Glass Hearts: The Downfall of the Humble Giant
by Exalted Nemesis
Summary: The Glass Hearts gang travel to the wasteland of a once populated town to investigate strange events, however what happens in the depths of an old power plant will not be soon forgotten. Better summary in my profile. Feedback would be great! Rated M
1. Chapter 1

**I think everyone saw this story coming but it's an interesting take on the whole 'bad' monster theme mostly from the third Resident Evil game, enjoy! **

It was just like the nightmares that Jill had experienced a dozen times before, only this time they had come true.

Standing in a dripping semi dark tunnel with Carlos, Jill could hear the monster's approach. _Why did it all come down to this? _She thought running her left hand across the button for the electricity. _We shouldn't have come here_.

Glancing up towards Carlos who only nodded back Jill got ready, the heavy footsteps echoing down the cement tunnels, that unmistakable growling and even worse the rattle of weapons against the creature's side.

Carlos had also heard the approach and gripped the thick grey cable harder as though preparing for the attack, he was clearly upset about the events that would soon unfold but he knew it was necessary for them to live.

The thundering footsteps suddenly grounded to a halt and a low growl issued from the top of the tunnel that Jill and Carlos were down.

Jill didn't need to see what the creature standing down the end of the hallway was; she was already too familiar with the monster from her nightmares. _Only now it's come back and this time you can't wake up_.

Seeing the sudden appearance of the shadow beast caused Carlos to step back while still keeping a hold on the cable, "Do you think he knows what we're going to do?"

Jill wasn't listening instead she stared back at the monster that had haunted her for almost five years, she saw his green eyes were filled with a fury that not even death could quell. Now the giant stood at the end of the tunnel growling in a menacing tone the two large fists clenching in unison preparing for the fight that would follow.

Suddenly the creature shot forward breaking the gaze both human and monster shared, his massive strides propelling him down the tunnel at surprising speed.

Carlos shouted something out to Jill but the roar of the black clad beast cut it off.

Jill could only stand in the centre of the wet cement tunnel watching her foe get closer and closer. Her mind drifted back to the events that led them to this place, how it started off so simple and straightforward.

The roar of the monster snapping Jill from her trance, again she looked up to those eyes filled with bloodlust and hate. _What happened to you? _She made herself wonder. _Why did you change into a monster Nemesis?_

Again Carlos shouted to Jill but she still didn't hear, the thundering footsteps were drawing closer by the minute and she knew it would be the last noise she'd ever hear.

The phone ringing woke Alyssa, jumping out of bed she strode across the room, opened her door and went down the hallway.

Just as she was about to reach for it another hand grabbed it instead.

Turning in confusion Alyssa saw it was Jill who had picked the phone up and was now making shooing motions towards her.

Alyssa only shook her head and walked back down the small hallway towards her bedroom, if Jill didn't want her listening in then she wasn't going to argue.

Hearing the bedroom door close Jill turned her attention back to the phone, "It's been a while Trent"

The voice that replied back sounded mechanical giving evidence to suggest that Trent was using a stew phone, a devise that could not only scramble voices but in some cases remain undetected by phone taps, "Have you seen what is on channel seven lately?"

Balancing the cordless phone on her shoulder Jill walked over to the tv and turned it on, pressing the mute button soon after so not to wake the others.

As the screen flickered to life Jill saw the tail end of an advertisement for a clothing sale at the nearby showgrounds. Seeing this only confused Jill and she was about to ask Trent, no doubt still on the other end what the deal was when she saw it.

The advertisement wasn't much just a few brief flashes of Mount Louisa proclaiming it as a mountain climber's paradise with challenges for all levels of fitness. There were a few shots of people climbing and feeding the many wallabies and cockatoos in large fenced off areas, then the ad ended and returned to an early morning weather forecast.

Switching the TV off Jill sat back against the sofa, "You want us to go mountain climbing? I appreciate the gesture Trent but we're not that…"

"You saw the advertisement I'm guessing?" the mechanical voice cut in.

Hearing this made Jill nervous, how did Trent know when the ad would be on TV at that exact time, "The one about Mount Louisa as a tourist attraction? Yeah I saw it but what interest is it to you? It's not like Umbrella is in charge of the place"

A brief blast of static filled the phone before Trent continued, "I'll be quite frank with you Ms.Valentine as we may have others listening to us, the advertisement you saw is your next destination, remember what you saw and know only this, the reality of the situation excludes an element from the televised landmark"

Then the line went dead and Jill lowered the phone and sat back against the battered leather of the sofa whispering part of the conversation. "Excludes an element? What on earth does that mean?"

Of all the things that Trent had ever said to Jill, this one was high on the list of strangeness. The fact that Trent had gone out of his way to contact Jill made her realize it simply wasn't going to be a destroy Umbrella's work scenario, whatever Mount Louisa hid was giving Trent grief something fierce.

_As if we aren't troubled by our own problems already_ Jill thought.

It had only been a few days since they had all driven to an abandoned weapons factory owned by Umbrella.

What Jill had seen and experienced there was something she'd never forget. She had come extremely close to dying on that rooftop. Her death would've easily followed through had she not admitted the past.

Subconsciously Jill rubbed her right hand across her throat, the bruises had now disappeared but the feeling hadn't. She could still feel those cold thick fingers around her throat, squeezing all the life out, not stopping until she turned blue.

Jill still didn't feel right as she had watched the limping monster get back into the van, she had just started to trust Nemesis and Alyssa after all those weeks of carefully building up confidence between the pair and all it took was one night to blow it away.

The sofa suddenly felt very hard and cold and Jill shifted uneasily on it,_ Still neither could be blamed for what happened_. But in the back of her mind Jill silently hoped that it wouldn't present itself every time Alyssa 'discovered' a new ability the infection had gifted her with.

Both Alyssa and Nemesis had been in a weakened state after the battle it would've been so easy to take them out with two shots from the magnum. But even Jill knew that would be suicide, despite the blood loss and open wounds Nemesis would easily kill her before she could make another shot.

_Why am I thinking this?!? Alyssa and Nemesis are our friends I'd never be able to hurt them_ Jill thought angrily _I have to stop thinking like this, the two of them are here and that's all there is_.

But deciding not to hurt either Alyssa or Nemesis was going to be something that Jill would have to rethink later onwards when that was the only sensible decision to survive.

In the past few days after the incident in the industrial area Nemesis had preferred to stay on the veranda of the cabin instead of going off with Deception.

Easily sensing the change in Nemesis, Deception would slowly slink through the fading darkness across the field and sit with the larger monster, watching the sunrise.

Seeing Nemesis as he was confused Deception, a few days ago both had been mock fighting in the bushland and now all Nemesis wanted to do was stay glued to his chair. Even when Deception approached the giant he normally wouldn't respond to the Hunter's presence, he would only stare across the paddock gripping the handle of the chain gun softly growling at times.

The back door slamming snapped Nemesis out of the trance he was in; someone had left the silent cabin.

Placing the chain gun down onto the veranda the large monster stiffly rose and slowly made his way around the cabin, behind him Deception followed silently snarling while clicking his claws.

What both creatures saw was no enemy but instead the mysterious threat was none other then Alyssa.

She stood staring across the field mirroring what Nemesis did before, her lips moving but not making any noise.

Flicking her hands down by her side Alyssa clenched both in unison; at the same time sparks of blue flame began to surround them giving the illusion that Alyssa had fists of flames.

Then Alyssa shook her head and the blue flames disappeared from her hands as she sank onto the dewy field and started to sob.

As Nemesis approached her Alyssa looked up and smiled while wiping away a tear.

"They're still here, the bad things" Alyssa replied as she slowly stood up. "But I'll never call them out again I only did it because…" she then turned back towards the field watching as the sunlight played across the tree tops. "Well it's never going happen again, the bad things can die in their cages for all I care"

Nemesis growled softly in the back of his throat, he could sense Alyssa's sadness but had no idea what to do. When the 'bad things' had taken over Alyssa they also affected him. Glancing out across the rooftop and seeing only enemies Nemesis was compelled to destroy them, he had heard Alyssa's orders and went to carry them out.

The bad things had taken over Nemesis completely and he could only watch as they commanded his body to hurt those he had called friends. But it wasn't going to stay like that, both Alyssa and Nemesis had joined minds and together they were able to push back the bad things, with a little help from Jill and gain command over their bodies again.

Alyssa then turned back towards Nemesis, "I thought that I could control it and I guess in a way I am" she held up her left hand. "Watch this"

Flicking her hand out Alyssa shut her eyes; small blue flames began to grow from her fingertips and slowly began to creep up her arm. Then Alyssa relaxed her arm and opened her eyes as the flames died down. "It's not much but that's as far as I'll go"

Deception had wanted to leave when seeing the threat was only Alyssa, yet his unnatural curiosity had made him watch on.

The Hunter didn't want to admit to it but when he had seen the van pull up in front of the cabin that smelt strongly of blood he was worried.

Creeping across the rickety old veranda Deception could see quite clearly through the dusty windows that Alyssa and Nemesis had been badly wounded, both were bleeding heavily but seemed to be slowly recovering.

Not since he'd lost the other Hunters had Deception felt worry, it was another torment to the monster a useless emotion that clouded his mind. Nevertheless the Hunter remained on the veranda until early morning when Nemesis limped outside and sat in the large wooden chair.

It was there Nemesis had remained until hearing Alyssa, which had forced him to investigate.

Seeing the blue flames created mixed emotions in Deception, he knew there was something wrong about them hence his hurry to leave. Yet at the same time he wanted to know more, after all the girl was like him, a virus scented creature, it would make sense to learn what this new ability was all about.

Hearing voices from inside the cabin made Deception turn slightly, he still didn't trust the non-virus scented creatures and avoided them when necessary.

Alyssa had heard the voices as well and smiled thinly, "Looks like everyone's awake now, come on we better go around the front"

As both Alyssa and Nemesis began to walk around to the veranda Deception circled them in a wide arc he had no intention of following the pair back to the cabin, he only wanted them to reach the front safely. An unknown emotion that Deception couldn't explain drove the Hunter to watch out for them.

Once Alyssa and Nemesis approached the front of the cabin then the Hunter slowly loped off across the dewy fields, he would return later to see if the group was going to a testing place.

Alyssa watched as Deception slowly disappeared from view; the Hunter had never been one to hang around during emotional tensions. _Deception should stay with the rest of group not run away and be alone_. But Alyssa knew that forcing Deception into a situation against his own will would not end well.

Turning the doorknob to the rusty screen door Alyssa walked slowly inside, Nemesis followed closely behind, bending his head forward in order to fit through the smaller doorway.

Both Jill and Carlos were at the kitchen table but Alyssa didn't speak to them as she strode past the pair and into the TV room. Switching on the television with the remote Alyssa sank down into the old sofa while Nemesis preferred to sit in an armchair beside the sofa.

When Alyssa and Nemesis entered Jill had glanced up from the laptop, she watched the pair now sitting in the darkened room partly illuminated by the glow of the TV. Ever since the group had gotten back from the industrial area both Alyssa and Nemesis seemed to have separated. Alyssa had spent the past few days in her room only venturing out when she was hungry and Nemesis had sat out on the veranda refusing to budge.

Now it seems the two individual strands had become one again judging by the way the pair were acting the same way and were no longer in separate places.

Carlos clicked his fingers in front of Jill, "Hey Jill take a picture it'll last longer"

"I guess I zoned out for a while" Jill replied blinking her eyes. "I'm just a little worried about those two"

"They don't seem different, I mean Alyssa is mostly in her room anyway and Nemesis sits out on the porch of a night, nothing suspicious about that"

Jill only glanced at the two figures in the TV room again; the last time Nemesis had been inside the cabin was the night after they'd first met, it seemed unnatural having a monster inside a place meant for human beings. She shook her head, "We both can't deny what happened Carlos, the two of them seem drained, like they're slowly getting over a hangover of some sort"

"Well it's not really helping the current situation, I mean the meeting is getting closer and we still haven't figured out what to tell the rest of the group about our.. err.. new recruits"

Turning away from the pair Jill brought up the ad for Mount Louisa, although she had seen it almost a dozen times since this morning Jill hadn't told Carlos about the phone call. "I think we should have a change of scenery, just do something for fun"

Carlos leaned against his chair looking confused, "Fun? I thought that word didn't exist in your vocabulary Jill"

"Alyssa and Nemesis aren't the only ones who can change, I've heard that Mount Louisa is a nice place to go"

But Carlos wasn't buying Jill's sudden urge for travel, "There's another reason why you're dead set on going here isn't it?"

"Why do you ask that? I just thought that we could all go and…"

"I heard the phone ring this morning and saw you run down the hallway as though your life depended on it" Carlos suddenly cut in. "I may've been half asleep when that happened but I'm not stupid, that phone call just wasn't a telemarketer and very few know that we're here so I'm assuming it was a contact"

"You would have been a very good detective Carlos" Jill replied sighing. "I was trying to keep it to myself but I guess it's too hard keeping a secret around here. Yes it was one of our contacts, Trent to be more precise, he wanted me to investigate Mount Louisa something's been bothering him about that place"

"That doesn't make any sense why would Trent want only you to check it out?"

Jill shrugged, "I'm not sure, maybe he thought it would be easier if only one of us went or the fact that we haven't really gotten any good solid evidence since we meet up with Alyssa, Nemesis and Deception"

"You don't think Trent knows about them?" Carlos asked. "He seems to find us whenever we move"

"I don't know and I have no opinion on that" Jill replied as she replayed the advertisement. "It's this stupid media puzzle that has me annoyed"

Carlos watched the montage of images flash onto the screen, "So it's a tourist ad promoting a dead part of town big deal, I've seen worse like those car ads where the truck turns into a robot no wonder it's on so late people would complain it takes up valuable viewing time if it came on during the day"

"That's not what I meant, when Trent called he told me to watch the ad about Mount Louisa and said that something was missing from it"

"Other then the really bright colours and phoniness of it?"

Jill frowned at the image of the happy family feeding the wallabies, "I couldn't get much of an answer from Trent, he always talks cryptic nonsense, the last thing he said was the reality of the situation excludes an element from the televised landmark"

"Trent really needs to stop reading that thesaurus, he speaks a whole different language, makes me glad I didn't grab the phone when it rang" Carlos remarked.

"I think he means that the ad is fake, it's disguising something more sinister" Jill replied as she opened up a folder on the computer. "I did some research into accidents and strange happenings around Mount Louisa in the past few months and the results proved interesting. There's several write ups about the entire area surrounding the mountain to be too dangerous due to mudslides but when declaring the area to be a hazard it drew people away especially the tourists. Ever since that bunker of explosives detonated in 2009 the majority of the town has been dead, but a few months after the explosion that wiped out most of the suburbs the tourism bureau realized that Mount Louisa could be turned into a tourism magnet and attract perhaps wealthy investors"

"Let me guess the dead suburbs were suddenly bought by an overseas investor hence the dodgy ads?" Carlos asked.

Jill only bought up pictures of a very deteriorated power station, "Even better, I was wondering why Trent was so obsessed about the mountain, turns out an investor did step forward and offer to rebuild part of the town for the rich including repairing the power station damaged in the explosion, they made the bureau promises that once the town had been rebuilt then tourists would come flocking in to climb a mountain over looking a town that survived a deadly fireball"

"I don't like the answer that's coming" Carlos said.

"There's very little information regarding the mysterious investor but I did manage to pull a name from a tiny article. A small company named Parasol offered to fund the rebuilding of not only the suburbs but also the roads up Mount Louisa and even the tourism advertisements" Jill replied as she turned towards Carlos. "And what's parasol another name for?"

"Those sneaky sons of bitches" Carlos said as he shook his head in disbelief. "I bet no one even asked where this 'company' came from?"

"That's the thing with desperation, if you can find an easy way out of a complex situation then you take it. I really can't blame the tourism bureau they wanted people to see a landmark in an area that's been deemed a ghost town for three years what choice did they have?"

"To say stick it to Umbrella, that's what" Carlos remarked. "And they call us criminals"

"That's the reason why we have to go, if Umbrella or their alias Parasol is behind it then something must be up, whatever town they touch shrivels up and dies and I don't really want another Racoon City"

"So it's mountain climbing?" Carlos asked.

Jill smiled, "Even better, mountain climbing at night"

"Can't wait" Carlos grumbled.

Even with the absence of his bodyguard the lab techs still feared Griffin. The jittery group snapped to attention when Griffin addressed them, they knew better then to ignore him.

The fear factor was something Griffin had gotten used to; it was now more of an expectation amongst those he worked with. Although it had only been a few days since Alice had been disabled Griffin knew that the chimera was recovering fine. He had just come from the containment room where the sleeping specimen was and had called his research team together for a meeting.

"Regarding the research centre in Townsville, the orders are to shut it down and destroy all evidence of it being there" Griffin said as he closed a black folder.

"What about the specimens there?" asked a young male lab tech with blond hair. "Are we able to move them before the destruction?"

"They are all failed desert class subjects, none are worth saving, besides I am only conveying what the higher ups have told me, we are cleaning up the remnants of Dr Gregory Winterstone's work and the Townsville lab is the first step"

Another lab tech, an older woman with a wrinkled face and red hair raised her hand, "What about the Leviathan? Only one of those still exist and the Townsville lab has it"

Hearing this Griffin sighed, "Honestly Mary I thought I knew you better, the aquatic area has now been shut down and all research subjects DNA samples have already been categorised we have no further need for the creatures"

Mary only nodded and sat back into her chair.

Seizing the opportunity to quieten any more inquiries Griffin continued, "The entire area below the power station is set to be sealed and flooded" he gestured towards a middle age man with short black hair and pale skin "Joseph will accompany me to the labs and is in charge of the magnetic field responsible for maintaining the electricity flow to the residential areas, he will remain there until the facility is submerged, is that too hard for anyone in this room to understand?"

The only response Griffin received were several averted glances when he looked at the group, "Good that means I am working with a group that has some grasp of intelligence the meeting is over you may all return to your work stations"

As the small group began to move out of their chairs Griffin walked up to Joseph causing the man to jump. Seeing the reaction Griffin rolled his eyes, "Give it rest Joseph I'm not that much of a monster am I? You're coming with me to Townsville don't forget so I'd advise you to prepare for that journey now"

Joseph only nodded, "What about the rebels? Should we worry about them? I mean I've heard that they have more allies like the Winterstone girl"

"You read too much into things Joseph and listen to too many rumours, I highly doubt that those petty criminals will be there" Griffin replied as he turned his back on the lab tech. "Don't trouble yourself with unnecessary thoughts I need you focused not panicky"

Yet as Griffin walked out of the large meeting room his thoughts did turn briefly to the group of renegades and their unusual allies. _It appears the paranoia is spreading, no matter in a few more weeks everything will be balanced_.

Both Alyssa and Nemesis watched on silently as Jill and Carlos prepared for their next destination.

As Jill entered the TV room searching for something Alyssa took the opportunity to break the silence.

"A report on the tv said you were a star Jill, were you famous back in the states or something?" Alyssa asked.

Jill turned suddenly and saw two sets of green eyes watching her, "So you still can speak I thought you'd forgotten" as she went to leave Alyssa lightly grabbed a hold of her black jacket.

"Come on Jill you can tell me, were you a star at one point?"

Jill glanced over towards Nemesis who was only looking in her direction waiting for an answer as well, once again the 's' word having no effect on him. "This really isn't the best time Alyssa, we have to go soon"

"Why can't you tell me? I told you what I am and where I came from" Alyssa replied in a pleading tone. "It's not like as though both Carlos and you are actually real criminals"

Seeing Alyssa's upset face and hearing her talk after a three-day silence made Jill sigh. _Well Alyssa see it's a bit complicated if I mention that I'm from a group called Stars then that could trigger a response in Nemesis I really don't want happening especially since I've just barely lived through the other two times something that big attacked me_. Jill really wanted to say her thoughts out loud but she knew a time like this would come, ever since mentioning the name Alyssa had been curious.

Sighing and sitting down on the sofa next to Alyssa, Jill turned towards her, she knew very well that her back was facing Nemesis and if she did mention the word he could shove her aside so easily and deliver a killing blow. But at the same time she knew that Alyssa was right, the girl had told Jill and Carlos things that she had probably never revealed to anyone else, it wasn't right evading a question when it was asked.

"Ok listen because I'm only saying this once ok?" Jill said.

Alyssa nodded, "I have good hearing"

"Do you remember when we first met up in that cave a month and a half ago and I said that Carlos and I worked for different organisations?"

Alyssa seemed confused, "What about them?"

"Before we started to fight against Umbrella both of us were with security and law enforcement hence our weapons and knowledge of combat. Carlos was with a group of people that worked for Umbrella they were mercenaries called in to keep people from talking about all the terrible things Umbrella did. I on the other hand was with a police force called…" Jill hesitated she was unsure whether to mention the name so close to Nemesis, there was a chance he may recognise the word. _It's now or never Jilly take a risk and put your fears to rest!_ "We were called S.T.A.R.S. special tactics and rescue squad, I saw first hand the evil that Umbrella had created, that's how they identify us by the places we used to work at, so to answer your question Alyssa I'm not a star like the ones in movies and tv it was the name of the police unit I was with in Racoon"

Alyssa sat back against the sofa frowning, "Thank you for telling me Jill but just one thing, you said that when you were with that police force it's the reason why your so good in combat situations but anyone can do that, you don't have to be a mercenary or a cop to be good at fighting, I'm neither"

Jill only shakily moved off the chair and smiled thinly, "Well that's without Umbrella's tampering I'm good but I guess you're right anyone can be a fighter if they want to be. But that aside have you ever been mountain climbing Alyssa?"

Alyssa shook her head, "No but I always wanted to, it looked kind of fun"

"Well you're in for a treat then" Jill said as she walked out of the room.

A dozen images flickered through the sleeping Alice's mind, as she lay suspended underwater by cables in a containment tank.

The majority of them were people that she had fought and despised but some of the faces confused her sleep-induced mind. A few of the faces perhaps a long time ago may have been called friends and allies, now however they were all enemies.

After the incident at Racoon city a part of the 'old' Alice still lived on, even after the countless injections and procedures done to her. It was that small speck of good that had prevented the newer evil Alice from going after Alyssa at the Innisfail labs or even pursuing Jill from the petrol station.

It had been a continuing battle between the old and new, the evil nature had been given a helping hand with the introduction of the neural implant that tapped directly into the central nervous system. For five long years the fragments of the innocent and good Alice had fought tirelessly on, pushing the darkness away but losing ground fast.

Ever since she had been ordered to protect Griffin he had allowed Alice to quell the raging anger and violence that was in her nature. So many innocents had already been hurt because of the encouragement Griffin had given her, he seemed proud whenever Alice would preform a horrific deed never shielding his eyes always smiling cruelly.

When Alice had returned from the 'rescue' still wrapped in a lab coat breathing heavily and bleeding from her shoulder and arm Griffin had been there. She was still unsure what had just happened, oblivious to the fact that two people whom she had once called friends now lay dead in the dry desert sands. Griffin had taken Alice back inside the facility talking to her quietly, whispering promises of revenge and power, she could be stronger and hunt down those that wanted to kill her.

Perhaps if Alice was more alert she may've thought it over, considered what the others had tried to do for her but when trying to remember the faces of her rescuers all Alice saw were blank faceless enemies. The programming had done its work, even better then expected.

Whenever a neck was broken or a skull was shattered the 'good' would cry out in pain as though it too was affected by the injury. They would sometimes ask the stronger side to stop, there was a still a chance to turn back but as always the weaker side was shoved away.

After five long years however the tiny shred of goodness had finally weakened, it had tried to crawl back up from the hole the evil side had pushed it down but the hole was very wide and very deep.

The faces flashed again some familiar others unknown but they were all enemies and they all had to suffer. They were inferior to Alice, nothing more then tiny speed bumps on the road.

At first Alice had resented Griffin for making her go to the industrial area, it seemed that he had prior knowledge about Alyssa's abilities but she had heard him speaking outside the thick glass, Alice was one of the best and the battle hadn't weakened her it only made her stronger.

Alice could feel her body slowly healing itself, the burns from the electric blue flames had gone through several layers of skin and once they disappeared then she was free from her prison. She wouldn't let Griffin down, never would she show him her weaker side again.

Alyssa's face flashed forward, her youthful features with bright green eyes and short white hair angered Alice. It was because of Alyssa that she was encased in glass with tubes drilled into her spinal cord and an even larger tube shoved down her throat. Alyssa was her rival and an enemy; the girl would either come willingly back to Griffin or in pieces.

Now that the good side had finally perished Alice knew there would be no holding back she was finally free to do what she wanted and Alyssa would be the first to see the new and improved Alice.

The white news van with the three pieces of riveted steel on one side slowly made its way along the highway.

Seeing the dry dark plains of Bohle, Alyssa sat back against the foam seating, "I think I heard a story about Mount Louisa, it said something about how planes were hidden inside the mountain during the war and a cave in trapped them inside pilots and all"

"You saying its haunted?" Carlos asked smiling as he turned the wheel.

Alyssa shrugged, "I don't believe in ghosts"

"Then what about monsters Alyssa? If you don't believe in ghosts who's to say that monsters aren't real?" Jill commented. "Nemesis and Deception are monsters aren't they?"

"That's different, they're real and besides my father made them but I've never seen a ghost before, I'd have to touch it to believe it's authentic"

"You can't touch a ghost, your hand would pass through it" Carlos said as he dimmed the lights.

Alyssa frowned and folded her arms, "Well if I ever see one then I'll take a picture of it"

"Can't do that either, ghosts don't show up on film" Jill replied smiling. "You'd just have to trust your eyes"

Hearing Alyssa sigh made both Jill and Carlos smile, a lot had been on their minds during the past few days, the meeting growing closer, it was no longer a few months, in a matter of weeks the others would arrive.

After a few moments of silence Alyssa spoke up, "Ok how about this, if I built a cage and caught one then I'd believe"

Jill only shook her head and listened to the labouring engine of the van as it slowly began to climb up the mountain road.

"We can only take the van so far before it looks suspicious," Carlos said.

"Just take us as far as possible" Jill replied.

Alyssa peered out of the window completely forgetting about ghosts, "I thought we were climbing up the mountain?"

"In a way we are but not on the usual climbing routes, I have a feeling that whatever Trent wants us to find isn't on a well used track" Jill explained.

Carlos then swung the van in on a corner, parking it beside a derelict toolshed that was resting against an even larger run down house. He then pointed to a light on the far horizon, "Looks like company"

Jill nodded and opened the door beside Alyssa, "Shouldn't be too much security during the night"

As Alyssa got out of the van and walked around to the side she noticed the large house.

The windows had been boarded up; three thick planks were over the door while the walls were an ugly brown colour that had patches of black through it suggesting that the house had been partly burned at some point.

The entire structure stood like a silent dead giant on the side of the hill, never would anyone live inside it or run across the brown shrivelled lawn, it was a place of deathly stillness.

Snapping out of her trance Alyssa opened the door to the van, Deception was first out and took to the surrounding shadows not too far away from the group. When Nemesis got out Alyssa could sense his confusion at her sudden hesitation in opening the van. Alyssa only smiled and patted the monster on his right shoulder, "It's ok I was looking at the house"

Alyssa then turned to Jill and Carlos who were adjusting the straps to their backpacks, "Why are there so many of these houses on the mountain?"

"This place used to be a prime real estate location, from what I've read there were a lot of rich investors that built mansions here so they could rent them out. That all changed when Mount Louisa was labelled as a dangerous place due to rock and mudslides so the houses had to be abandoned" Jill explained. "Such a waste, especially since the mountain is now a tourist attraction"

Alyssa only nodded and pointed to the climbing equipment that both had, "So we're really going to climb down the mountain?"

"Not that far only around a side you should do fine Alyssa the way you climbed the wall at Bluewater this should be a breeze" Carlos replied. He then turned to Jill, "Ready to go?"

Jill adjusted her pack and made sure that the magnum was well hidden, "Let's go, as long as we all stick to the shadows there shouldn't be any trouble"

Watching the pair walk off confused Alyssa, once again her body had done something her mind had not registered. "But I don't remember climbing up a wall when I escaped" she said softly as she hurried to catch up to a rapidly disappearing Jill and Carlos.

Behind Alyssa both Nemesis and Deception walked on silent feet keeping a look out for any enemies.

The group all moved silently in the darkness keeping close to the edges of the abandoned streets.

Jill suddenly motioned for the others to stop, "There's someone out there"

As they crouched in the shadows the arc of light from a torch swept over them, it did this a few more times before turning away. A faint whistle to the tune of Singin in the Rain sounded off as the torch bounced across the large bulk of the houses.

Glancing at the ragged rocky edge of the mountain Jill sighed, "Looks like we'll have to go up to the tourist part, there's no safe place for us to climb down here"

Behind the group Deception had started to growl quietly, his growl was different to the one that Nemesis made, it wasn't a wavering type but more of an enraged beast seeking revenge on its tormentors.

Alyssa turned back towards Deception, she could just see the Hunter standing away from the group barely visible in the darkness, "The guard is coming back and we better hurry"

"Hurry? What for? We're not going to give ourselves up" Carlos replied. "Though it is kind of disturbing that there might be more then one lone security guard"

Alyssa shook her head, "No not that, Deception is giving us a warning, he'll attack and kill that guard if we don't move"

"We're not running on his time" Jill whispered harshly as she quickly glanced over at Deception. "We'll go when we're good and…"

Jill never finished her sentence as Deception leapt forward snarling and growling like the monster he was.

The Hunter easily scaled the group and landed perfectly on his two strong-clawed feet, he then zig zagged back and fourth through the surrounding shadows. Deception knew that the man with the light stick was not an enemy but he was preventing the group from progressing any further to the testing place, he needed the non-virus creatures to get into the testing place they were the only ones who could open parts of the walls that moved.

Deception moved so fast that Nemesis had trouble keeping up; he uttered a low toned growl under his breath and began to move away from the others copying Deception's actions by keeping to the darkness.

"I guess we better follow them" Carlos remarked. "Before Deception kills that guard"

Both Alyssa and Jill could only nod as they strode up the ascending street, their breath clearly seen against the black starless night sky.

All three continued to walk until they were forced to quickly scuttle into the shadows, the uniformed security officer walked past them moments later.

The man strode past the group so close that Alyssa could hear his heart beating, something had scared him and she knew exactly what it was.

Across the other side of the street two forms stirred in the darkness, one larger then the other.

Alyssa tugged on Jill's coat and pointed, "There they are"

Jill and Carlos peered across the pot holed street to see Nemesis and Deception standing in the shadows, the moonlight only partly lighting up their forms, a scaled taloned hand, lipless mouth with yellowed teeth. Deception's yellow reptile eyes growing to slits as the security guard walked past again, his tune had changed from a happy joyous one to a more nervous pitch, his head moving from side to side while the torch light was shaking.

Deception went to move forward, his intentions were clear but as he took a step forward Nemesis barred the way with a large arm.

For once Deception did not object, although he seemed to snarl at the larger monster he knew very well it was unwise to pick a fight with an ally that was stronger.

While holding the Hunter back Nemesis glanced across to Jill his green eyes locking with hers, the gesture was simple: Your turn.

Jill undid the pack she was carrying and carefully lowered it to the ground.

"Jill you're not serious are you?" Carlos whispered quite aware of what was going to happen. "What if the guard sees you? All they need is one good eyewitness and this whole area will be swarming with the army and police"

"She has to" Alyssa whispered. "Nemesis held off Deception so that we can get rid of the guard without killing him"

"That's pretty obvious" Jill replied. "I'll take him from the back"

Carlos picked up a small pebble, "Kind of reminds me when we broke into that small facility in Canberra, remember I threw that stone and instead of hitting the guard I hit a window?"

The guard came around again breathing heavily muttering unintelligibly.

Jill quietly followed the guard staying hidden in the shadows; Carlos slowly drew his arm back and prepared to throw the pebble.

The pebble flew from the darkness in a wide arc and bounced onto the bitumen road.

The moment the pebble landed with a clatter the guard spun around, his torch illuminating the black road, "S-someone there?"

Watching the guard from her position Jill waited until his back was turned then all it would take was a light blow to the side of the head, just enough for him to go to sleep for a few hours.

Before Jill could move however Alyssa leapt forward silently and circled the shaking guard. She then tapped him on the shoulder and as he turned to face her, Alyssa delivered a hard blow to his face.

The guard fell down onto the bitumen road hard, his torch skittering across the bitumen.

Alyssa bent forward and picked up the torch switching it off as Jill and Carlos walked up to her. She looked up into both their startled faces and smiled, "You took too long Jill"

The remark partly shocked Jill, up until now whenever Alyssa preformed some kind of lethal combat manoeuvre she wouldn't remember ever doing it.

_Just like before with the van and Nemesis_ Jill thought. Alyssa had done a similar action when Jill was about to become zombie food; she had released Nemesis from the back of the van and followed up the rescue with a smart alec remark.

Seeing Alyssa do this didn't so much annoy Jill it made her suspect that Alyssa wasn't the innocent wide eyed girl she made herself out to be. She had the same killer instincts as Alice did only Alyssa hadn't accepted her viral heritage as Alice had.

Carlos, Nemesis and Deception had already begun to move towards the semi lit climbing area, once Jill had retrieved her pack both her and Alyssa followed.

"Next time you do something like that just warn me ok?" Jill said. "Otherwise both of us would've jumped out and most likely have been seen"

Alyssa shrugged, "I just thought I could help, besides the guard was closer to me"

The climbing platform was split up into different brightly coloured sections for the various fitness levels of the climbers.

As the group entered the platform entrance they passed between two large cement slabs that had the history of Mount Louisa printed on them.

Carlos set his pack down on the crisscrossed cement flooring, "Now what? I don't see any signs indicating anything suspicious"

Jill walked forward to the purple semicircle warning visitors not to stray beyond it. Carefully walking along it she noticed a worn path that was not part of the attraction, moonlight lit up the tiny well-walked pathway giving it an eerie appearance. Stepping back Jill smiled, "I think I found Trent's clue"

Carlos walked up to Jill and peered over her shoulder, "A path that leads down the mountain? As if there aren't enough all over it already"

Feeling Carlos's hot breath on her cheek Jill pushed him aside, "I think it's worth checking out"

Alyssa had been standing away from the pair with Nemesis and Deception, she too had seen the path and it didn't feel right. She watched as Jill and Carlos took out their climbing gear and clipped the hooks onto the nearest safety pin.

"What am I supposed to do while you two climb down?" Alyssa asked.

"You have an important job too Alyssa, your job is to make sure no one sees us, if you do spot someone tug on our ropes ok?" Jill replied.

"I'm not a baby you know, looks like I won't be able to climb with you"

Jill shot a glance at Carlos who only shrugged his shoulders and then pulled on his rope testing its tightness. "We won't be that long I promise"

Alyssa only sighed; she knew the real reason why she was being left behind it was because whenever she wandered off trouble would soon follow, "Alright I'll stay here, just don't have too much fun without me"

Hearing this Jill smiled, she then reached into her jacket and handed Alyssa a pair of night vision binoculars, "Have a look at the view while you wait"

Alyssa took the binoculars from Jill, they were heavy and cold but she didn't mind, "Just don't be too long" She then watched as Jill and Carlos slowly pushed off from the starting point and make their way down towards the path, their heads nodding and going from side to side, both were having a conversation as they descended.

Sighing and turning back to Nemesis, Alyssa then peered through the binoculars, "I guess we wait for them then"

Nemesis only growled back, he was watching Jill and Carlos climb downwards trying not to think about the thin ropes that held them. Once he had tried to climb up a rope but it had broken and the fall had stunned him temporarily, for a few weeks after the fall the side that Nemesis had fallen on was still sore, serving as a constant reminder to never climb up a rope again. Nemesis had no idea what he would do if both of the ropes suddenly broke; grabbing them wasn't an option nor was running down the side of the mountain. Ignoring the thought Nemesis focused his attention towards the night sky and the dozens of stars twinkling above him.

Alyssa had some night vision by herself, but the binoculars were clearer and sharper plus she had just discovered the joy of the zoom button. Suddenly objects that were too far away to see could be viewed much clearer.

There wasn't much left of the city of Townsville after the bunkers containing old explosives from the wars had detonated. Here and there were small patches of suburbs that had escaped the blast but the five large craters made the whole place look as though it had been hit by asteroids then anything else.

On the outskirts away from the destruction Alyssa could see the beginnings of a tourist resort, when zooming in on the building site however it was dark and silent.

Turning away from the construction site Alyssa saw the old power station; it had a few lights on but other then that it too was boring and still.

Just as she was about to lower the binoculars there was movement near the gates of the station. Alyssa used the zoom button to its fullest potential and saw a black jeep drive in through the gates.

As the jeep drove in the gates swung shut, the vehicle continued until it stopped at the foot of a large staircase that led up into one of the buildings.

Seeing the jeep pull up confused Alyssa, she knew for a fact that all the power stations in the surrounding area were monitored by a computer system, there was no need for human workers.

_Maybe they're technicians come to fix the computer? It would explain why it's so dark down there_ Alyssa thought. But she knew that it was wrong, there was a thin ray of hope that the black jeep was being driven by some computer tech that had been rung in the middle of the night to fix a computer malfunction.

As though both monsters could sense Alyssa's thoughts Nemesis growled softly while Deception shifted uneasily from foot to foot snarling silently.

As Alyssa shifted the binoculars to view the occupants she let out a gasp, her predictions had been wrong it wasn't a computer tech that got out it was Griffin and a rather nervous middle-aged man wearing a lab coat.

Seeing Griffin walk so calmly towards the staircase made Alyssa's blood run cold, the monster that had tortured her for years was so close, he had entered her secret hideaway and wasn't going to stop until she was found.

Alyssa stepped back from the edge dropping the binoculars, "Griffin's here, he's going to find us"

Nemesis growled louder and at one point sounded as though he was trying to say 'Griffin' but couldn't seem to pronounce it properly.

Deception needed no prompting he was already testing the edge of the plastic rim with his taloned feet, he was going to climb down the mountain and no one could stop him.

Seeing Deception's actions Alyssa glanced towards the ropes that had Jill and Carlos, "They're not going to like this but what choice do we have?" she then strode towards the end on the platform and began to lower herself downwards.

Behind Alyssa, Nemesis first made sure both his weapons were tightly secured before climbing down, never taking his eyes off the nimble Alyssa who was now skipping across the larger boulders as she followed the black ropes.

The power station wasn't much even after the renovations the majority of the complex had become full of the large computer system that maintained the electrical output.

Just thinking about the electricity surging through the thick cables above the jeep made Griffin smile. After Alice had been removed from the roof he had carefully inspected the 'battle field' and found evidence of not only burning by fire but also by a strong electrical force.

When seeing the burns Griffin knew that Alyssa had done them, the singular T-virus strain was incapable of creating such a combination of both elements but the T/G strain…

_The Winterstone girl is more valuable then ever, such a shame that she escaped, no matter soon Alyssa will return_ Griffin thought to himself. _Imagine what could be capable with so much power at my fingertips_.

Joseph suddenly tripped up the stairs of the staircase breaking Griffin's trance. He gave a small cry of pain as his left kneecap hit one of the cement stairs.

Seeing this Griffin muttered unintelligibly and shook his head, "Just go up the stairs Joseph I don't want an epic saga made from it"

The large white tower was the only place in the power station that wasn't taken up by wires or computer parts. It was also the entrance to the labs below the station; the entrance was in plain sight in fact the renovations had included a small lift that went down into the lower depths.

Any curious inspector was simply told it was only a place for storing old records and that they were more then welcome to investigate. Sometimes the inspectors did but they would always return mildly disappointed there wasn't any 'hot material' down there.

The 'hot material' being the tissue samples and a few specimens had been carefully moved months before the labs destruction. Now all that needed to be done was to switch on the large magnetic field that would inturn close the floodgates below and release the water from the pipes.

Joseph reached the top with no other incidents and taking a key card from his pocket swiped it through the reader.

As the door slid open Joseph stepped back instinctively as though he was expecting an attack from an unknown assailant.

Ignoring the antics of Joseph, Griffin walked past him into a darkened room, switching the lights on he then made his way towards the small elevator on the left side of the room.

Stepping onto the small metal platform Griffin turned towards Joseph, "When we get down there you will be solely in charge of the magnets"

Joseph stared back at Griffin his eyes widening to look more like a frightened puppy then a human being, "I thought we were both going down there?" he spluttered.

Griffin pressed the button for the lift to lower, it's metal clang making Joseph jump, "Unless you have lost your hearing Joseph I made it perfectly clear during the meeting that you will be monitoring the shut down, I have a few hours that I need to address other matters while in Townsville and therefore cannot waste them sitting down below a power station watching a facility flood"

Joseph only cringed away from the harsh words and slowly nodded, his lips moving but not making a sound.

The 'business' Griffin had in Townsville was all a lie but he really couldn't stand being with such an annoying individual like Joseph. From day one the scientist had been slowly pissing Griffin off, he was a family man but that meant nothing to Griffin.

Despite Joseph's unquestionable loyalty Griffin had sometimes wished that one of test subjects he was operating on would awaken and bite into his arm thus infecting the man with the virus. Perhaps once the Nemesis unit was back with him Griffin would force the creature into one of its fits of rage and then throw Joseph inside.

Griffin could almost visualise Joseph being torn limb from limb by the angry monster it would be a sight that would bring him great joy seeming as all Joseph really did was complain his hours were too long and he still had a young family. He didn't really have a proper position within Griffin's group preferring to flit from station to station in charge on the various surgical procedures done to some of the lower test subjects.

There had been one time when Joseph had attempted to interfere with a procedure on Project Alice but Griffin would more over trust a child then Joseph to meddle in the delicate operation that was taking place. Although Griffin couldn't outwardly fire Joseph there were other ways to make the man crack and assigning him to meaningless duties was one such thing.

As the lift went slowly down the cement tunnel both men remained silent, it wasn't until the lift had stopped completely and they had gotten out did Griffin speak again.

"I trust you bought the operators key?" he asked.

Joseph only nodded and dug into his slacks pockets, after a few seconds he produced a small silver key with a red tag.

"Very good Joseph hold onto it until we get to the station" Griffin replied as he quickened his pace.

Their footsteps echoed across the facility's concrete walls, it had been one of the smaller labs much like the one in Cardwell, no offices just containment rooms and a few operating theatres.

When in operation the labs had specialised in desert type B.O.W.S such as the Stinger and Huntsmen variation on the Web Spinner, both were suitable for upfront combat but they could never be properly tested due to Dr Gregory Winterstone's interference.

The magnetic field room was dominated by a large structure on stilts; the glass box-viewing platform contained the controls for the magnets and also several screens for the various security cameras that were around the facility.

Back in the labs heyday such cameras proved beneficial in detecting unwanted intruders and also to monitor the actions in both the hallways and rooms.

Griffin stopped at the edge of the steel plated staircase that led up to the platform, "Here I must leave you Joseph hopefully when I return in a few hours the facility will be underwater and we can seal off this entrance"

"J-just one question Dr Griffin" Joseph stuttered. "What about this room? Won't it be flooded too?"

Griffin glanced around the room and frowned, his eyes searching for something, "Why yes it will be but you needn't worry, there's an escape hatch somewhere in this room being that this is the last one to flood, if you find it then just pull down the safety ladder and climb up, couldn't be any simpler"

Turning on his heel Griffin then left Joseph to climb up the stairs and turn the magnets on. He had already spent too much time as it was with the annoying Joseph it was time for a bit of peace and quiet and perhaps some brandy and scotch at the nearby bar.

As Jill and Carlos slowly lowered themselves down on the ropes they kept a close eye out for anything suspicious, which was hard to do in the dark.

They only had the moonlight to guide them over the treacherous rocks on the mountain's face.

"You think we did the right thing leaving Alyssa up there?" Carlos asked.

"She'll be fine, besides Alyssa isn't alone she has Nemesis and Deception" Jill replied. "Those binoculars I gave her should keep her amused for a while"

The pair continued downward until Carlos suddenly stopped and swung towards the rock face.

"Jill you have to see this" Carlos called out from below her.

At first it seemed that Carlos had run out of rope but when Jill slowly made her way down towards him did she see that he had plenty of slack to still go on. "What's the matter? Did you see a spider?"

Carlos only pointed towards a niche in the rocky outcrop, "Look"

Jill followed with her eyes where Carlos was pointing, expecting to find nothing out of the ordinary but what she saw was shocking.

At first the large metal barrels couldn't be properly seen at least not from the top of the climbing attraction, nor would they ever be seen by any tourists, there appeared to be the remains of a plant barricade that had been recently torn down.

Both swung closer to get a better look and saw that the silver barrels bore the Umbrella logo, the moonlight reflected off the containers in an eerie light.

Some of the barrels hadn't been stacked properly and had rolled away from the others and now lay in a dust covered heap a few meters from a dried up creek.

"Those bastards were using the mountain as a storage base" Carlos replied shaking his head. "No wonder nothing grows here"

Jill hadn't heard what Carlos had said; her eyes fell across the small forms illuminated in the moonlight. The twisted contorted bodies of several birds and wallabies lay in front of the waste containers. The animals must've opened a few of the barrels hence the barricade being broken down and they only found death.

As Jill lowered herself towards the niche she could smell the toxic waste, the barrels must've only been opened a few weeks ago as an acidic scent still hung in the air. "Don't get too close Carlos I think that stuff is still deadly"

The animals didn't look normal either, Jill had seen pictures of the local wildlife from travel brochures and they certainly didn't have oversized arms and patchy fur. _Maybe it's for the best that they died_ Jill thought. They were innocent victims that had been affected by Umbrella and it looked like the animals hadn't survived their new mutations. Finally Jill realized what the cryptic Trent had meant about an element being excluded from the tourist ad. From the moment the group had arrived on the mountain they hadn't seen anything living, at first she'd ignored it but now Jill understood why there were no animals, it was because they had eaten the medical waste dumped by Umbrella and died in the small cavern carefully hidden from the view of nosy tourists.

"If only we'd discovered this during the day, the pictures would be much clearer" Carlos remarked. "Now we're lucky if only a few turn out"

Turning away from the sad scene Jill got out her small pocket flashlight, "We'll still get the proof we need, the light should be enough to see all the details and then it's all a matter of brightening them on the computer"

Carlos climbed up his rope so he was level with Jill, "Give me that torch, you can't take a good picture holding two things"

Jill handed the torch over to Carlos then reached inside her vest and brought out a digital camera, "Make sure the light goes on the containers so that the logo is seen"

Once the light was level Jill pressed the button on the camera taking several pictures of the hidden containers, the mutant animals and lastly the dried creek bed complete with the dust covered waste barrels. Satisfied with the photos Jill put the camera away making sure it couldn't fall out when she climbed back up.

Carlos glanced up the wall and groaned, "Great! We're almost down the side of the mountain and now we have to go all the way back up? Doesn't seem fair"

Jill shrugged, "That's life I guess"

There suddenly came a guttural roar as something bounded down the mountain.

Jill and Carlos turned to see a flash of yellow reptilian eyes and a snarling mouth full of sharp teeth.

"Please tell me that wasn't who I thought it was!" Jill commented.

Before Carlos could answer another growl came, this one much closer.

Both looked up in time to see Nemesis struggling down hill, balancing himself with his tentacles that formed a waving cape behind the monster.

Not far away from Nemesis, Alyssa easily leapt from rock to boulder with the grace of a mountain cat, neither one seeing Jill nor Carlos hanging a few meters away.

Watching the three slowly make their way down hill Jill sighed, "Can't we go anywhere without someone running off and the others following?"

Carlos began to pull himself up the rope, when he was asked by Jill where he was going he only grinned, "You better follow them, I'll go and get the van"

Jill only nodded and tossed Carlos up the digital camera, when he caught it she began to go lower, "Too much is on that camera to risk losing it make sure its safe ok?"

She then began to descend until the rope became tight forcing Jill to climb down the last part of the rocky encampments.

Jill didn't need to go far until she found the three of them hiding in the shadows preparing to make a run across a highway that was still in use. She whistled out to them and when all turned towards the sound Jill called out.

"What do you three think you're doing?" Jill said as she approached.

Alyssa pointed to the semi dark power station, "Griffin is there"

"And I'm guessing you had a plan to go with this hide and seek? You think you can just walk up to the man responsible for so much pain in your life and threaten him to stop?"

Alyssa seemed hurt by the words Jill had said and stepped back from her, "I don't know, it's just that if Griffin is out here then there has to be something valuable in those buildings maybe in connection with this" she brought out the swallowtail butterfly key that had been found a few days ago when the group went to Bohle. "This isn't just a random trip for him, Griffin hardly leaves the labs"

"Alyssa I know you want answers and so do I but I just think this isn't the best time, Carlos and I found proof that Umbrella is poisoning the mountain so we can go now" Jill said softly. "I guess I shouldn't have said those things before but you gave me quite a scare when I saw you running down that hill like a mountain goat"

The words had no effect on Alyssa, she simply shook her head while putting the key back in her pocket, "No I have to do this even if Griffin isn't there I have to go, there's something wrong about that place, it's calling to me, I think my father wanted me to go there"

Then Alyssa was gone, she moved so fast that Jill struggled to keep up with her eyes, the girl ran with the two monsters across the road, nearly avoiding being spotted by a busload of elderly people.

Jill got to the small green strip that separated both roads and watched as Alyssa, Nemesis and Deception easily scaled the fence in a unified leap and began to make their way slowly around the buildings. "Why does everything have to be so difficult?" she muttered.

Running across the street Jill was almost blinded by bright headlights, at first she thought that a car was going to run over her till she heard a familiar voice call out.

The headlights dimmed as Jill approached the van, Carlos peered out from the driver's side window, "You look a bit lost, did you catch up to them?"

Jill pointed towards the power station, "They all ran over there and jumped the fence what could I do?"

"The power station? But what's over there that's so exciting?"

"That's what I told Alyssa but she couldn't be convinced, she said that Griffin was over there and then took off"

Hearing this Carlos began to worry, "I think we better go after them, if that creep is over there then Alice could be with him"

Jill needed no further prompting she'd die before Griffin took Alyssa away. Getting in the passengers side she closed the door shut as the van circled around and drove towards the road leading to the power station.

By the time Jill and Carlos caught up to Alyssa, Nemesis and Deception all three were busy climbing a staircase that led into a white building.

Walking forward Jill noticed another set of tyre tracks in the dry dirt, she nudged Carlos and pointed downwards, "We aren't the only ones who are here"

"I don't see any other vehicles though, maybe Griffin left already"

"Yeah that'd be nice he just gave up and went home taking Alice with him, I may not know a lot about that creep but Griffin doesn't seem to be the one who gives up on something so easily"

Carlos only nodded, "Guess you're right about that but it's a power station not a training facility, the fence wasn't even electric so it can't be that secret"

Jill smiled thinly, "Neither was the Arklay mansion and look what happened there"

Alyssa meanwhile had spotted the pair and called out to them while opening a thick metal door, "It's open come on!"

Quickly running up the stairs Jill and Carlos only saw a small elevator slowly lower.

"How did they all fit on that?" Carlos wondered as he peered down the shaft. "It's not very big"

Jill glanced around the small office area; there wasn't anything suspicious about it or any evidence that anyone had entered. _Maybe Alyssa only saw some plant workers _she thought _if that's the case then we're screwed if others find out about Nemesis and Deception…_

The now empty lift suddenly came back up forcing Carlos to point his weapon at it. When he realized there was no threat he turned towards Jill, "Can't be too careful"

As both entered the lift Jill pressed the button for it to lower, "We better hurry"

"Why? Whoever was here is long gone by now"

"I'm only saying we should hurry because whenever we're all split up those three go in separate directions and trouble soon follows"

"So you're only worried because our group is split up?" Carlos asked.

Jill shook her head, "Not even the half of it, if Alice makes another appearance…" she raised her magnum. "Might not be much but it'll prove to be an effective distraction against that monster"

When the lift finally stopped Jill and Carlos got out and looked around, the cement walls were damp and in some parts dripped water but there was no trace of Alyssa or the two monsters.

Carlos walked around the expansive room and whistled, "This place is huge, how did Umbrella keep it a secret?"

Jill glared at Carlos, "Keep it down! Anyone could be hiding here"

"Well there's no Alyssa, Nemesis or Deception down here, they all must've run off"

"I was afraid of that," Jill said sighing. "Once again we have to look for them"

As they slowly began to make their way down the central corridor there came a low rumble from behind the nearest metal door.

"Did you hear that?" Carlos asked.

Jill stopped and turned looking confused, "Could be something above us like a truck"

The rumbling came again followed by a loud splash, Carlos motioned for Jill to be silent, "There it goes again"

Walking up to the metal door where the sound came from Carlos tapped it with his assault rifle.

Once again the angry rumble came from behind the door followed by several thumps.

This time Jill did hear it and pressed her left ear against the metal surface, "Sounds like there's water behind it"

Before Jill could stop Carlos he slowly turned the handle and stepped inside, "Let's see what's behind it, for all we know it could be Nemesis going for a swim"

"I don't think he was designed to be a swimmer, "Jill said. "Just like I don't think we should be going inside that room"

Carlos either didn't hear Jill or ignored her completely as he walked inside; Jill had no choice but to follow.


	2. Chapter 2

The room looked like a large operating theatre like in the hospitals but this one had a forklift and an empty glass tank in the right corner.

As both Carlos and Jill entered the low rumbling turned into a grunting noise forcing both to turn around.

On the left side of the wall was another glass tank, this one however wasn't empty it contained a strange white creature that glared back at the pair.

Although the monster's initial appearance defied explanation it may have been a small whale at one point before the mutations and the surgical alterations. It's pasty white bloated body supported small dorsal fins that constantly fluttered like bird's wings in order for the creature to maintain floating. A large scar held by thick surgical staples cut straight across it's back where a few thin tentacles flickered back and fourth like an anemone.

The creature turned towards Jill and Carlos, it's one bloodshot eye staring back at them as it opened it's large mouth filled with dozens of tiny teeth and emitted a high pitch scream.

Cringing away from the sound Jill turned towards Carlos, "Let's get out of here before Moby Dick smashes that glass"

Carlos only nodded and edged away from the whale creature.

Just as they were making their way back to the door the glass holding the monster suddenly shattered and a torrent of brown coloured water flowed fourth.

The screaming ceased as the creature began to pull itself forwards on its small fins making a guttural clucking sound; it's thin tentacles snapping forward.

Jill turned away from the advancing monster ignoring the sudden scent of rotten fish and tried to find the door, to her horror it looked as though the door both had come through had disappeared. "Carlos where's the door?"

Carlos faced Jill, his eyes searching across the metal riveted wall, "It's over there, I think"

The whale monster suddenly let out a cry of pain as the sharp glass edge cut into its soft underbelly. Although it was in pain the monster never took its eyes off Jill or Carlos, it hadn't been fed for quite a while and wasn't going to let its prey escape.

Seeing the creature's quick advance Carlos opened fire, the rounds from his rifle bounced off the rubbery skin. Only a few bullets found their mark temporarily halting the beast. "Try the right wall beside the tank, there has to be a handle or something!" he cried out dodging aside as one of the thin tentacles flicked forward.

Jill began to tap the sides of the wall with her hands but all she got was a dull metal clang. _This place is going to be our tomb; we'll both die in here!_

Suddenly above all the roaring and gunfire Jill heard a different sound that wasn't metal, it sounded hollower. Patting the wall down Jill located the handle; it had folded up against the door when they both entered.

Turning back to Carlos, Jill saw that the whale creature was almost on top of them, the hail of gunfire having no effect on the slimy salivating monstrosity.

"Found it!" Jill cried out.

Carlos half turned and nodded, "You go first I'll keep tuna head at bay!"

Jill backed towards the door but kept her magnum ready; if that whale thing suddenly found the energy to bound forward she'd be ready.

Turning the door knob Jill glanced back to the creature one last time, it was bleeding red watery liquid from the dozens of bullet holes while beneath it there was a large puddle of blood. _Bleed to death fish brain! We're not lunch_ she thought.

Opening the door both Jill and Carlos stepped out quickly shutting it behind them.

The whale monster slammed itself against the door howling in frustration but the door only shook under the force.

"What was that thing?" Carlos asked as he slipped another clip into the rifle.

"Does it matter? We have to find Alyssa, Nemesis and Deception and do it fast, I have a feeling its only going to get worse"

No sooner had Jill spoken did a loud whooshing sound from down the hallway sound off and two large metal doors slam down in front of Jill and Carlos.

"What the heck?!" Carlos cried out.

Jill only stood back while shaking her head, fear clouding her face, "I think we've been discovered"

"What makes you say that?" Carlos asked as he pounded on the metal door. "It's not going to budge and that's our only way out!"

"This whole place Carlos, didn't you find it a bit strange that all the walls are wet or the fact that we were almost eaten by Moby Dick's brother? I think at one point these labs were underwater and now they're going to be flooded again, these aren't walls they're flood gates"

Carlos muttered a curse under his breath, "Dammit and we walked right into a trap, those bastards plan to drown us!"

"What better way to dispose of criminals like us but that's not going to happen so I think we better find another way out" Jill replied as she began to jog down the corridor. "Those other two passageways must meet up somewhere"

Both began to run down the dripping cement hallway and turned right, never thinking that such a decision could lead to trouble.

The ride down the elevator had been very cramped for Alyssa but as soon as the lift was back on solid ground she was the first one off.

"This place is so huge and…" Alyssa wrinkled her nose "Smells like wet socks"

Even Deception was intrigued by the large testing place, Alyssa was right the place did have a strange scent to it.

Nemesis had a different reaction to the underground complex, he growled softly and gripped the handle of the rocket launcher. He didn't like water, it was cold and dangerous and at the very moment all three were surrounded by it. The rushing water behind the thin cement walls was enough to cause Nemesis to instinctively step away from the lift and towards Alyssa; he wouldn't let the water get her even if it meant having to touch it to protect her.

Alyssa took out the small silver key and stared at it, "Maybe I'll get some answers down here like what this unlocks" she then pressed the button so that the lift could go back up. "Better tell Jill and Carlos we're down here otherwise they might think we've disappeared"

All three quickly made their way towards the left entrance that seemed the least wet.

Deception preferred to follow Alyssa and Nemesis; he was more comfortable being with beings that had the virus scent on them. At least when the time came both would be able to react in the same way as Deception, not relying on noisy weapons to help bring down enemies.

Alyssa tried the key in one of the doors but found that it was too small, she stepped back frowning, "I know it's the first one but I have a really bad feeling that this key won't fit in any of the doors"

Behind the group a voice sounded off in the distance followed by running feet, Deception turned slightly and snarled quietly but Alyssa and Nemesis were too far down the corridor to hear the noise of the non virus scented creatures.

Again Alyssa tried the key only sighing when this time the key was too tight, turning towards Nemesis she smiled thinly, "Close that time but I don't want to force it in case it snaps"

Nemesis only softly growled back, he didn't understand what was driving Alyssa to try and find a matching key hole, she may have to search the entire complex to find it and judging by the sound of the rushing water getting closer, time was running out.

A low rumbling growl on the right side of the corridor caused Deception to shoot past the pair and turn right.

Alyssa only watched the Hunter leave with a degree of confusion, "I wonder what he heard?"

When the rumble came again Nemesis growled back at it then turned towards Alyssa and pointed down the corridor they'd all come through.

Looking towards Nemesis, Alyssa nodded, "You're right we should find Jill and Carlos"

The short bursts of gunfire made Alyssa stop, "Whoever it is must have found something" she then began to worry. "What if it's Deception?"

As both began to run down the cement corridor a grinding noise above the pair caused them to stop.

Alyssa saw the two heavy gates racing towards her and managed to roll out of the way as they landed with a heavy clang. Getting up she stared back at them, _I was so close to getting cut in half then_.

When she turned towards Nemesis, Alyssa discovered he wasn't behind her; she was just about to call out when she heard a roar on the other side of the wall.

Alyssa ran up to the walls and pressed herself against them, "Nemesis! I'm ok!"

The roaring was followed up with a dull pounding that lasted for a few seconds.

Already Alyssa could feel the heartache of the monster being separated from someone he vowed to protect. The thick walls didn't allow any sound to get out so Alyssa tried a different approach; it was one that she had tried before when the two of them were on the office roof at Bohle.

Closing her eyes Alyssa concentrated, she blocked out the feeling of separation and fear and tried to picture Nemesis. _I'm ok _she thought _go back up the tunnel and find the others I'll meet you at the lift_.

The pounding on the walls suddenly stopped and a loud roar sounded off before heavy footsteps followed.

Hearing this Alyssa smiled, she didn't think such an act would work but thanks to the T/G virus it did, although she didn't really know if Nemesis had figured that banging on the wall was useless by himself or not. Maybe he did realize that hitting the door wouldn't make it rise and turned and went back up the corridor. But Alyssa knew that she had implanted the thoughts that had made Nemesis move away.

Making sure the key was safely away in her pocket Alyssa turned and began to walk down the corridor.

Once the doors had slammed shut the noise came, it was a terrible high pitch ring that wouldn't go away. It was worse then the rushing water because at least that noise could be ignored but the high pitch one could not.

Realizing he was cut off from Alyssa, Nemesis began to kick and punch at the doors, she was away from his side and the promise he'd made had a chance of not being fulfilled.

Faintly on the other side he could hear someone speaking but even with his advanced hearing Nemesis could tell what he or she were saying.

The noise was getting worse, now it clouded his thoughts and made Nemesis return to kicking at the wall when all he wanted to do was search for Alyssa.

Another noise filled his head, it was Alyssa's voice or at least her thoughts, hearing the thoughts temporality relaxed Nemesis; she was ok, just separated from him for the meantime.

But due to the noise and confusion Nemesis only heard part of what Alyssa said, something about turning around and going back.

Finally his fists obeyed and stopped hitting the wall but the high pitch ringing caused the giant to scream in pain and back away.

Walking back down the corridor Nemesis could hear footsteps in the distance, they were enemies he was sure of it, people who wanted to hurt him, the men wearing black armour with the metal sticks that sizzled and hurt when they touched.

The ringing continued as Nemesis rounded the hallway blinking at the bright lights, he growled at them but didn't know why, there were suddenly enemies everywhere.

Grabbing the chain gun Nemesis opened fire at the elevator, the bullets severing the metal rope that held it in place. The enemies couldn't escape now; they wouldn't get a chance to hurt him.

Again Nemesis heard the voices, this time he roared in frustration, they were hiding, teasing him, wanting him to walk into their trap.

A thick steel door blocked the middle hallway; no matter there weren't any enemies there, so Nemesis pressed onward the persistent ringing never ceasing.

Standing at the edge of the right corridor Nemesis paused and listened, he could hear the footsteps and breathing of his next victims and there would be no escape for them.

Gripping the handle of the chain gun Nemesis turned and ran down the hallway, his heavy footsteps shaking the ground with each step.

Turning on the magnets to lower the floodgates had been a big mistake; the magnetic force had caused several of the rivets holding the containment tanks together to become loose.

The occupants in the beaded condensation tanks began to stir and thump against the glass.

Soon the glass shattered and the creatures were free, they began to lower themselves from their prisons, some cringing at the bright light, they were all hungry and could sense prey everywhere.

Their spindly legs carried them out of the room and down the hallway, their mandibles and jaws clicking and drooling. The last to leave was a medium sized black shadow; it was only as tall as a toddler yet it had sensed something else other then food.

The creature dragged its single claw like appendage across the ground then leapt up onto the ceiling and began to move spider-like across it. Although the creature craved food like the rest of it's escaped brethren it also wanted a host for the eggs that it carried within.

Rounding a corner on the ceiling the black creature screeched loudly before continuing onwards, it's host ever so close.

Jill had never liked spiders; there was just something about the way they moved, not really running and not walking but a strange combination of both.

When the three huntsmen spiders the size of cattle had dropped down from the roof it had taken both by surprise, the spiders had been so quiet, no thanks to their hairy feet.

Moving aside Jill had caught a glimpse of herself in one of the spider's eyes, it reflected a very frightened Jill back.

Regardless of their size they still were spiders and it didn't take much effort to cut two out of the group of three down.

Both of the spiders fell back in silent pain as Jill and Carlos opened fire. The monsters spiralled backwards, their multiple feet kicking the air as their bloated bodies oozed black blood.

The last one decided to charge Jill and Carlos from behind, it rushed past the pair clicking its large mandibles then turned to face them.

As the spider ran towards them Jill took aim and fired with her magnum, at such close range the creature's head exploded and the rest of the body ran for a few more seconds then slid to a stop.

Jill leaned against the wall and reloaded her magnum "I hate spiders"

"Did you notice they weren't really going for us?" Carlos remarked. "They seemed more intent on escaping from something"

A loud roar sounded off from down the hallway both had just come down.

"There's your answer, Nemesis scared them into running down here" Jill said.

"I think those spiders were running away from the water not a bigger monster, if that had been the case they would've fought Nemesis and not come towards us" Carlos pointed out.

Jill shrugged, "Doesn't really help us, we just wasted ammo putting those three down"

As Jill took another step down the hallway Carlos stopped her, "Careful where you step"

Turning away from Carlos, Jill looked down the hallway and saw a large grey cable suspended from the ceiling like a sleeping anaconda. Seeing this confused Jill, why had Carlos stopped her? The cable wasn't alive so why panic?

Before Jill could ask Carlos he stepped forward and walked down the tunnel his assault rifle raised.

"It's a cable Carlos that's all, an inanimate object" Jill called to him.

But Carlos wasn't listening, he seemed to be searching for something along the walls, "Just stay there for a moment ok?"

Jill only sighed and shifted from one foot to the other, "Ok but I still say…"

A shower of sparks cut her off, the end of the cable that was touching the ground suddenly burst to life hissing and crackling.

Carlos began to chuckle, "I thought so"

"Thought what? That scaring me with an old electrical cable is funny?"

"No, this is a power station right? So the majority of cables are for electricity, this one was particularly dangerous because it must've come loose at some point"

Jill glanced down at the thick cable, it was lying in a puddle of water and she finally understood the reason for Carlos's sudden paranoia, "Water conducts electricity"

Carlos nodded, "Exactly and I knew there had to be a switch nearby to turn it off"

"Umbrella has some weird architects why would they put an electrical cable in the middle of a corridor?" Jill said frowning but her words were lost as Carlos ran down the hallway.

When she finally caught up to him they were back in the main room. _We're back to where we started_ Jill thought smiling. But her smile faded when she saw the lift, it had been completely destroyed by gunfire.

Carlos also saw the ruined lift and went over to it, "Uh Jill you're not going to like this"

As Jill approached Carlos she saw he was dead serious, "Do you believe me now about being seen by Umbrella's goons?"

Picking up one of the spent rounds Carlos examined it, "The weapon that destroyed the lift came from something big, my best guess would be a chain gun"

Hearing this sent a shiver up Jill's spine and she stepped back, "Why would Nemesis do such a thing? That lift is our only way out of here"

Carlos went to say something but the large bullet that was in his hand suddenly flew out and stuck to the cement wall, as he went to pull it off the wall he frowned, "Well that's something you don't see everyday, it's like as though the walls have become magnetised or something"

But Jill was still disturbed by the lift, "It doesn't make any sense, Nemesis wouldn't purposely destroy the lift, unless something's happened"

"Don't say it Jill, Nemesis is with us, he'd never go bad and try to kill anyone, you're just being paranoid"

"Maybe but I'm not taking my chances" Jill replied as she gripped her magnum. _I never should've said I was with the S.T.A.R.S. it must've caused something to activate in Nemesis, now he's coming for us_.

A loud scream snapped Jill out of her thoughts, she turned towards the sound and realized it was Alyssa's; it had come from the left tunnel that had now been sealed off.

"If we all don't get out of here soon Carlos this place will be completely sealed"

Carlos only nodded, "Well we have limited options in where we're headed"

"Hopefully it'll lead us to the others and an exit"

Both began to run back down the corridor they had just come out of, carefully avoiding the electrical cable and the dead spiders.

Suddenly a large form appeared at the end of the hallway, it was Nemesis, growling in a menacing tone and breathing heavily while clutching his chain gun tightly in one over sized fist.

Both Jill and Carlos suddenly skidded to a stop, there was something wrong with the monster, he didn't seem right.

"Carlos…" Jill said as she watched Nemesis slowly lift the large weapon.

"What is it?"

The centre of the gun began to whirl as the bullets began to click into place.

Jill jumped onto the ground pulling Carlos with her, "Get down!" she cried out as the rounds flew over them both.

The firing continued for a few moments and Jill thought that anytime the line of fire would lower to where they were but it suddenly stopped.

Seizing their opportunity both leapt up from the wet concrete and ran around the corner narrowly missing a rocket fired in their direction.

As the rocket nicked the side of the wall shards of cement flew from it followed by a heat burst. A loud roar sounded off down the other end of the corridor, it sounded full of anger and hatred.

"Remind me not to get any extra rockets for that weapon" Jill remarked she then turned towards Carlos. "Still think I'm too paranoid?"

"Nemesis must've thought we were a monster or something," Carlos said as he leaned against the wall. "Why would he attack us? We're friends"

As Jill peered around the corner she quickly withdrew as the chain gun sounded off again, cutting into the cement, "He's playing with us, waiting for us to trip up"

Carlos exhaled and gripped his rifle tight, "But why? Something must've gone wrong, it has to be that chip thing inside Nemesis's brain" he shook his head "That magnetic force that's coming from the walls must be messing up all the signals"

Once the chain gun stopped Jill shot another glance at Nemesis, the monster was still standing down the hallway only this time his head was shaking from side to side as though he was trying to rid himself of something on his head. _Or inside it_ she thought.

Nemesis suddenly snapped his head to the left and growled at some invisible enemy, howling in frustration when he couldn't grab it.

Turning back to Carlos, Jill spoke, "I don't know what made Nemesis go bad but he does seem confused, just now he was trying to hit something that wasn't there, I think he's hallucinating which explains the sudden attack"

"So what's the plan?" Carlos asked. "We go in blindly and hope to find a weak spot? What about Alyssa? If we kill Nemesis then she'll die as well"

Jill only smiled thinly while raising her magnum, "Who said anything about killing Nemesis?" when seeing Carlos's confused expression she continued. "That big electrical cable we passed before I think that can help. Back at Racoon when the first one attacked me I was able to stop it by shocking it with electricity, it didn't kill that Nemesis but it did knock the monster unconscious for a while"

"Nice plan but how do we get Nemesis to follow us? I don't think he'll walk willingly into a dangerous place"

Jill put the magnum back into his holster, "I'll make Nemesis chase after me and you'll flick the switch"

Carlos looked slightly worried when hearing this, "What if Nemesis opens fire or worse uses the rocket launcher?"

"I guess that's the risk we have to take, just get ready to run when I go out, I'll give you a good head start"

Jill then disappeared around the side of the corner; she walked out into the centre of the hallway and started to yell at Nemesis trying to get the monster's attention, "Hey over here come and get me!"

Nemesis sharply turned to face Jill and gave a wavering growl, his hands falling to his weapons. When Jill yelled again the giant shook his head and roared in pain and began a slow jog towards her, his heavy footsteps carrying him down the cement hallway that now began to shake.

Carlos ran out from behind Jill and saw Nemesis closing in on her, "Geeze Jill!"

Jill pushed Carlos forward "Get out of here now!"

She then turned back to her foe, just like in her dreams; the monster always ran towards her howling for her blood.

Nemesis was so close to Jill she could hear his breathing and the rattle of his weapons, the monster took a swing at her but only succeeded in punching a large hole in the wall.

For a few moments Nemesis's fist was stuck in the cement wall and as the monster attempted to pull it free Jill saw her chance and ran.

Nemesis looked up in time to see Jill disappear around the corner and roared in frustration as he was doing this his fist came free and the giant began his pursuit again.

As Jill rounded the corner she saw that Carlos was positioning the thick grey cable over the puddle of water, "Hurry he's almost here"

Carlos pointed to the switch, "I can't hold the cable steady and push the switch, you'll have to turn the power on"

Jill only nodded and circling the puddle of water went towards the silver panel on the wall just in time to see Nemesis slowly step out from behind the corner.

Again the monster seemed confused to what was going on, his eyes searching for things that weren't there.

But when seeing Jill standing down the hallway Nemesis started to growl and clench his fists together.

Carlos slightly turned towards Jill, "Do you think he knows what we're doing?"

Jill didn't answer she was instead looking straight into the eyes of Nemesis, those green eyes had locked onto her, they had marked her just as before.

Nemesis shifted uneasily from one large foot to the other and growled out the one word that had haunted Jill through all of her dreams, "Stars!!"

As Nemesis shot forward at a surprising speed Jill temporality faulted, the monster had come out her nightmares and was coming for her and there was nothing she could do to stop it.

Carlos noticed the approaching monster and realized that the cable wasn't spurting out electricity yet so he turned to Jill who had a pale face and was staring straight ahead, "Jill! Some help here! Flick the switch!"

Snapping out of her trance Jill stared back coldly at her approaching foe, suddenly not caring if she killed the monster or not, she grabbed a hold of the leaver and pushed it downwards.

Feeling the warmth from the cable Carlos first stepped back away from the puddle then glanced towards the rapidly closing Nemesis, "Sorry to do this amigo but this will hurt you more then it'll hurt us" he then threw the sizzling cable into the puddle then ran down the hallway towards Jill covering his ears when Nemesis screamed in pain.

Nemesis had wandered the short hallways for sometime finding no trace of the hidden enemies, they were somewhere in the complex he could sense them.

Stepping around a corner he suddenly saw them, there were two enemies, a man and a woman both had weapons and stopped when sighting him.

Growling back at the pair Nemesis fired at them but the man and woman were faster and threw themselves onto the ground avoiding the barrage of bullets.

The high pitch ringing wouldn't let up so Nemesis stopped firing. He wanted to bash his head against the cement wall but he knew that would be useless, pain wouldn't make the noise go away.

Both the man and woman were now up off the floor and began to run away but Nemesis wasn't going to allow that, they might come back and attack later on, he had to kill the enemies now.

Pointing the rocket launcher at the fleeing pair Nemesis squeezed the trigger and a fiery rocket sped towards the enemies. But it was useless, the rocket didn't hit the man and woman, they knew that by hiding behind a wall they were safe he roared in frustration, they were taunting him.

The woman's head suddenly peered from around the corner and Nemesis fired the chain gun, but his mark faulted as she quickly disappeared.

It seemed as though the noisy enemies were everywhere, faceless beings wearing hard black shells. Nemesis was suddenly encircled by a whole group of them, they all had sizzling sticks, he tried to grab them but they began to disappear.

Suddenly the woman was standing down the end of the hallway calling out to him, she wanted a fight.

Nemesis only roared back, the enemies were finally coming out of hiding. As he ran towards the woman the man ran behind her but Nemesis ignored him he was focused on the smiling woman.

Raising his right fist Nemesis swung forward but the woman somehow dodged the blow and this resulted in his fist being stuck in the wall.

The woman stood there for a few moments then she ran off down the hallway.

Nemesis howled in frustration and in doing so freed himself from the wall. Shaking the cement off his arm he continued to chase after the woman, the ringing never ceasing.

Slowing down to a walk Nemesis went around the corner to see both the man and woman waiting for him, they had wanted him to come.

The ringing in his head subsided for only a moment and Nemesis realized that the woman looked kind of familiar, as did the man who stood staring back with fear in his eyes.

His confused mind searched for the woman's name but Nemesis couldn't remember what it was, there was only one word that came up and that was stars. When he screamed out the word the woman seemed affected by it, but it was just a word why did she cower when he said it?

This time the ringing came back with a vengeance and now both the man and woman were the enemies again.

As Nemesis raced forward to fight the enemies he didn't notice the thick cable from the ceiling or the fact that the man was holding onto it, the high pitch ringing noise wouldn't stop until the enemies were dead.

The man seemed to say something to Nemesis as he drew closer then threw down the cable and ran away.

Seeing both enemies run away made Nemesis run even faster towards them but as he took a step towards the cable something happened.

A terrible buzzing pain surged through Nemesis, he screamed in pain and tried to back away from the invisible source but it was everywhere. It seemed to target all of his joints drilling and disabling them sending waves of paralysing agony though his entire body.

Trying to stand became too much for the monster, he could pick up the aroma of something burning and realized to late that it was him.

As Nemesis sunk to his knees his vision began to cloud and slowly turn black, the ringing noise had finally stopped and now as two figures stepped towards him he realized they were the worried faces of friends not enemies.

Finally the pain and ringing stopped and Nemesis gave in to the darkness.

Alyssa had only taken a few steps through the corridor that now had ankle deep water when she heard a soft splash behind her. She didn't turn back to see what it was assuming it was water from the ceiling. But when the 'thing' let out an ear-piercing screech did Alyssa turn around and face it.

The black spider like creature crouched on two strong legs, thick red tendons pulsed on the surface of its limbs, it had one long claw like appendance which was raised above its strangely shaped head. Although the creature had one human like hand it remained by its side. Behind the creature its other three pairs of smaller arms clenched together while in the centre of its body a tiny circular toothy mouth opened and shut.

Alyssa first stared back at the strange monster ignoring the fact that its black skin appeared to be crawling; despite the creature's grotesque appearance it seemed somehow familiar.

Again the spider creature let out a screech and took a step towards Alyssa, the large left claw arm swiping the air.

Instinctively taking a step back Alyssa could sense what the creature's intentions were, it wanted a T-virus host for the eggs it carried.

_You shouldn't be frightened of insects Alyssa, they are fascinating creatures and Spritzer will help you understand_. Alyssa could remember her father telling her about a creature that he must have created to help her respect insects. Why he had done this Alyssa didn't know, her father had done many strange things when he was alive.

Now as Alyssa stared across at Spritzer she noticed a small collar around the creature's neck, it had the Umbrella logo attached to it she knew that the monster was one of her father's creations the collar was proof, the smaller monsters always had collars around their necks. This brought on a pang of sadness, something had happened to Spritzer to make it go evil now all it wanted to do was kill her.

As though Spritzer picked up Alyssa's confusion and distress it began to charge forward in a series of bounding leaps still screeching in its horrible voice.

Alyssa was caught off guard by Spritzer's sudden attack and let out a yelp of surprise as the creature leapt over her.

Skidding to a stop at the end of the hallway Spritzer righted itself on its spindly legs and faced Alyssa again, it's breathing becoming faster as the creature got excited.

"I don't want to hurt you Spritzer" Alyssa said to the black creature. When she noticed that her words were having no effect on the monster she slowly raised her hands. "But if you leave me no choice then I will"

Again Spritzer bounded forward just as a large scorpion came crashing around the corner.

Alyssa glanced at the new threat completely forgetting about Spritzer. _Another bug?_ She thought watching as the scorpion slowly getting to its feet _how many more are there?_

Spritzer was suddenly above Alyssa and sliced downwards with its long claw like arm.

Sensing the attack Alyssa quickly moved aside, the large claw came downwards and although she had avoided the full force of the attack she still received a large slash in her right shoulder as it passed by.

The pain was dull and felt as though someone had pressed a block of ice on her shoulder. As Alyssa quickly glanced at the wound she realized it was worse then it felt, the large slash extended from her shoulder down to her elbow. Blood had started to flow, dripping down from the wound and into the rising water.

Seeing that it had wounded it's opponent Spritzer screamed with victory, now that the host had been hurt it would be easier to implant the eggs.

Alyssa heard the beat of Spritzer's heart above her; it was rapid which meant the battle had made it even more excited she knew this was a bad thing the more excited Spritzer got the faster it would become.

Pressing her left hand across the wound Alyssa tried to stem the bleeding. _Why can't I feel the pain? _She thought _this should really hurt but the most I feel is a little irritation_.

By now Spritzer circled Alyssa on the ceiling, drool starting the drip from the mouth on its belly as it opened and closed.

The scorpion that had suddenly appeared from around the corner hadn't moved since it had collapsed in a heap. Despite the threat from Spritzer, Alyssa had noticed the large arachnid's total stillness, something had killed it but whether or not the killer was another monster or a friend was a different matter.

Suddenly Spritzer struck downwards again emitting a high pitch shriek that made Alyssa cringe. But this time the long claw arm only struck air as Alyssa ducked underneath it.

Getting to her feet Alyssa pointed towards Spritzer and visualised the creature letting go of the ceiling.

A few moments after thinking that thought Spritzer crashed down from its perch and into the cold water. Seeing the creature's shock Alyssa smiled, "Doesn't feel good when you get hurt by someone else does it?"

Spritzer took a step towards Alyssa continuing its assault with the long claw arm but Alyssa simply backed away each time the claw came.

Glancing into the large white eyes of Spritzer, Alyssa knew that the creature had to be destroyed, for some reason Spritzer wasn't like Nemesis or Deception, it was confused and would never be able to live a normal life of freedom. She had no choice but to kill the monster that was getting frustrated that it's prey was moving so fast. _But how?_ Alyssa thought _how am I supposed to kill something my father made? _

Just as Alyssa was wondering this Spritzer suddenly turned away from her and screeched at another form that appeared from behind the dead giant scorpion.

Alyssa also glanced up to see that Deception had materialized at the top of the corridor. The Hunter was bleeding from a bullet hole in his upper torso as he snarled at Spritzer.

Believing that Deception was no threat Spritzer made the mistake of turning back towards Alyssa and prepared for another charge attack.

It was a mistake that would cost the monster its life.

Deception shot forward kicking up a spray of water as he bounded towards his prey growling fiercely like a possessed animal.

Spritzer turned slightly and raised its claw arm but Deception grabbed a hold of it and easily broke the slender appendance.

As the arm hung limply from its socket Spritzer shrieked in pain and tried to move aside from the larger Hunter, the host would have to wait.

Deception glared back at Spritzer and swung his right scaled arm forwards in a clean sweep easily decapitating the smaller monster.

Letting out one final cry from it's severed voice box Spritzer collapsed, the purple blood from the lethal wound spreading out through the water.

During the time it took for Deception to kill Spritzer, Alyssa had found another corridor that turned out to be a dead end. She had felt Spritzer's heart suddenly stop beating and had heard its death throes. _Be at peace now Spritzer _Alyssa thought. In a way she had felt sorry for the creature that had tried to kill her but not that much, Spritzer had wanted to use her as an incubator for the eggs it carried, death was the only option left.

Walking back from the dead end Alyssa saw that Deception was standing over the corpse of Spritzer growling and clicking his claws. Seeing Alyssa appear from around the corner Deception seemed to nod and slowly walk back down the corridor towards the dead scorpion.

When sighting Spritzer's corpse Alyssa felt a tiny bit of pity for the monster but then the feeling was replaced with triumph, the creature that had tried to hurt her now was dead.

As Alyssa began to follow the direction that Deception took a panel caught her eye.

The panel was the Umbrella logo and was carved into the cement wall; each section appeared to come apart.

As Alyssa ran her finger across the symbol it left a thin layer of her blood on it. Glancing at her shoulder Alyssa realized that she was already starting to heal, the dual T/G virus strain was busy at work.

Turning back to the panel Alyssa started to press the sections, ignoring the water that was now up to her knees. _Maybe this panel could open up those thick steel doors or it could be an escape hatch_ Alyssa thought.

Suddenly one of the sections sunk inwards and the entire panel spun around in clockwise direction.

The sound of rushing water from the dead end hallway made Alyssa turn around.

Sure enough a large stream of water had started to flow from two large vents on the sidewalls and the surprises kept coming. A thick glass panel slid down blocking off the hallway from the main corridor completely.

Realizing it was a trap was too late for Alyssa as she pounded on the glass wall yelling at the top of her voice. The water was getting higher and soon there would be nowhere left to go.

As the water surged towards Alyssa, she took a deep breath and waited.

Deception had found Joseph after leaving both Alyssa and Nemesis to their own devices; he had sensed that there was an enemy in the strange testing place.

Finding the scientist was one thing, getting to him was a different matter, a large thick metal door prevented Deception from entering the room where his prey was hiding.

Silently snarling in frustration Deception tried to remember how the non-virus scented creatures opened part of the wall.

A thin piece of metal caught the Hunter's eye and he could partly remember that in order for the wall to move aside the piece of metal had to be turned a certain way.

Grabbing a hold of the metal with his left clawed hand Deception turned it downwards instinctively moving aside as the door opened with a loud creak.

As Deception peered inside he drew back from the bright lights overhead, there were no shadows for him to hide in so the kill would have to be quick.

Movement caught the Hunter's eye and he could also hear the sound of something breathing, Joseph was closer then he thought.

Deception didn't even need his advanced senses to locate the cowardly man who was now behind a fragile looking chair. As he walked up the staircase flexing his claws Joseph peered from around the chair.

The man was smiling at the Hunter but not in a welcoming way, in a cruel way. Deception could remember this non-virus creature quite well, one time the Hunter had refused to kill a frightened victim that had been thrown into his cage.

Joseph's usual stammering voice had changed to a cold and unfeeling tone as he glared at Deception shouting threats and words the Hunter didn't understand at him.

When Deception had turned away from the pathetic human shaking at his feet he'd heard the sound of gunfire. At first Deception thought that he had been shot but when he didn't feel any pain the Hunter had turned to see that the human near him had blood slowly leaking from their head.

Glancing at Joseph, Deception only saw the man grin and slowly put away a small handgun.

Now as Deception stared back at Joseph the man slowly took out the very same handgun he had used all those years ago to shoot the shaking victim.

"I th-th-thought you'd come H-Hunter" Joseph said gripping the handgun. "I know you've c-come for me well you're not going to kill me because I'll k-k-k-kill you first"

Deception growled in a low tone causing Joseph to step back, an irritating ringing noise had started to fill his head.

"Not another step otherwise I'll shoot, I know you can understand me, you're an intelligent creature such a shame that your time's almost up" Joseph sneered his stutter completely disappearing. "I'll be able to tell Griffin when he returns that I killed the rogue Hunter, the one that's been causing him so much pain, maybe then I'll get the respect that I deserve"

Deception had completely ignored every word that Joseph had said his mind was elsewhere. He had seen the silver panel that Joseph was guarding and knew that was the cause for the slight ringing. But in order to stop the ringing Deception had to take care of Joseph first.

Realizing that Deception wasn't even listening Joseph scowled at the Hunter, "You impudent inbred animal! How dare you not listen to me, so many times you defied me and this is the last day!"

As Deception shot forward Joseph fired one shot from the gun that found its mark in the Hunter's upper torso. Ignoring the pain from his wound, Deception grabbed a hold of the now laughing Joseph's neck and began to squeeze. This only caused Joseph to make choking noises and aim the gun at Deception's head.

With his one free hand Deception hit the gun away then threw Joseph down hard onto the ground.

Not giving his foe a chance to recover Deception leapt up and landed on Joseph's back and with both of his razor sharp claws sliced downwards with such force that the man's spinel cord was easily broken killing him instantly.

Turning towards the panel Deception began a frenzied assault on the various wires and plastic keys.

Smoke and sparks began to issue from the places where Deception had carved large claw marks into the panel and slowly the ringing in the Hunter's head stopped.

Satisfied that his enemy was dead Deception went down the staircase and towards an open hallway, he wanted to find Alyssa and Nemesis again. Instead of finding them the Hunter found a large scorpion that turned towards him snapping it's large pinchers.

The clumsy arachnid wasn't even a challenge for Deception, he leapt over the bulky claws that snapped at him and targeted the soft head of the creature.

As the scorpion backed away in its death throes oozing a clear substance from its head Deception heard Alyssa shout out. When he didn't hear the roar of Nemesis follow the Hunter went down the hallway in time to see a medium sized black spider creature cornering a badly wounded Alyssa.

Although Deception had seen Alyssa fight before, something awoke inside the Hunter that compelled him to rush forward and strike the screeching black creature. It was that exact same feeling he had felt when seeing both Alyssa and Nemesis badly wounded when exiting the van.

Once again the spider like creature proved no challenge and once Deception had lifted its head from its shoulders he glimpsed Alyssa peering from around a corner. Her eyes said more then what words could have and he knew she was thanking him, although Deception couldn't understand why Alyssa didn't kill the creature when she had the chance such thoughts didn't bother the Hunter, he only nodded towards Alyssa acknowledging that she was now safe and ran back down the corridor.

Now that Alyssa was safe all that was left to do was escape from the watery testing place and Deception knew where the escape route was and he hoped that the others would too.

Seeing Jill with the cold crazed look in her eyes gave Carlos chills, she seemed to enjoy hurting Nemesis.

Only when Carlos had called out to Jill and took a step towards her did she snap out of her trance and release her hold on the lever.

Glancing back towards Nemesis, Carlos saw that the monster had landed face down on the ground. Water had started to slowly crawl towards the grounded monster while small spirals of smoke curled from his back. What troubled Carlos the most was the fact that Nemesis didn't appear to be breathing; there wasn't even an involuntary twitch from his large hands or even a snort to indicate that the giant's heart was still beating.

But as Carlos turned away from Nemesis another thought crossed his mind, which he voiced out loud to Jill, "Before you turned the lever, Nemesis called out something to you, he said 'stars' but how would he know what it meant?"

Jill seemed to be ashamed and at the same time uneasy as she stepped away from the silver panel, "Alyssa asked where I'd come from before I became what I am now"

"And you told her just like that?"

"What choice did I have Carlos, the kid was curious and I'm pretty sure that if I'd asked Nemesis to leave the room before telling her it may have been a bit strange!" Jill snapped as she approached Nemesis.

Bending forward Jill quickly undid both weapons and pulled them to one side then she knelt down beside the downed monster.

Carlos only watched with his arms folded, ignoring the fact that the water was slowly rising above his boots, "I don't get you Jill, first you were all paranoid about even mentioning the word stars around Nemesis and then you say it out loud like it's nothing"

Jill wasn't listening instead she was trying to listen for any indication that Nemesis was still alive. _I'd never have done this with the first one_ she thought _I was too busy running the other way_.

When Jill pressed her fingers against the clammy throat of the monster she couldn't find a pulse, it was only then that Jill really started to worry. She half turned towards Carlos, "I just hope the electricity didn't cook his insides"

Carlos didn't say anything but he was just as anxious, if Nemesis was dead then Alyssa would also die, she needed the anti virus and without it death would follow.

Jill then stretched out her hand, "Give me your combat knife"

At first Carlos was hesitant but when Jill glared at him, he slowly took out the large knife and placed it in Jill's hand.

Turning Nemesis's head to one side Jill then propped the knife under the giant's nostrils. A few seconds later the blade began to fog up and then it disappeared only to become foggy again.

Smiling thinly Jill slowly rose and handed the knife back to Carlos, "Like I said it will take more then an electric shock to stop something like Nemesis" when she noticed Carlos's confusion Jill continued. "Didn't you ever do anything like that? If you can't find a pulse find something that allows heat to be visible, if it fogs up then it means they're breathing"

"I was too busy thinking about what you were going to do with that knife" Carlos remarked. "And also the fact that neither Alyssa or Nemesis would make it out of this place alive"

"The only thing we have to worry about now is when Nemesis wakes up"

"You don't think we'll have to…" Carlos trailed off. "Doesn't feel right, shooting a comrade who's been through so much"

Jill shrugged, "If it has to come to that then we really don't have much of a choice if we want to live"

"But to kill two innocent victims? Remember if we kill Nemesis then Alyssa is as good as dead"

"Don't you think I know that already?" Jill replied as she took out her magnum.

Carlos noticed Jill's sudden emotional change, he leaned forward and nudged her, "You are worried about Nemesis aren't you? I can tell, you've been uneasy ever since the power was turned off"

Jill turned sharply towards Carlos, "If you're incurring for a minute that I actually felt worry for a monster that has caused me so much heartache then let me…"

Behind the pair Nemesis slowly began to move, letting out a small whimper of pain as he attempted to regain balance.

Jill and Carlos quickly turned around and pointed their guns at the waking giant, but the only response they got from Nemesis was him blinking in confusion at them.

Nemesis didn't understand why he was lying in a puddle of water on the cold cement ground but the ringing had stopped in his head, which was a good thing. Even more confusing to the monster was when he rose from the floor Jill and Carlos pointed their weapons at him.

There was something wrong with the group, Jill and Carlos were there, but Alyssa was absent. In the back of his mind Nemesis could sense that Alyssa was in trouble, ignoring the weird behaviour of Jill and Carlos, Nemesis picked up both of his weapons and lumbered off down the hallway, he had been separated from Alyssa for too long.

Jill watched as Nemesis walked down the hallway and lowered her magnum, "I guess that shock fixed the problem"

Carlos had a different reaction, he approached the wall and pressed his rifle on it, "The walls aren't magnetised anymore"

"And your point is?"

"Well maybe the problem wasn't with Nemesis in the first place, maybe it was the magnetic force behind the walls" Carlos pointed out.

Jill only put the magnum back in its holster, "Well fixed or not I still say we should be cautious of Nemesis, let's follow at a distance just in case"

When both caught up to Nemesis they found the monster standing in front of a glass wall roaring and slowly raising his rocket launcher.

At first Jill couldn't see what was making Nemesis so upset, though as she came closer she gasped, Alyssa was behind the glass, she was floating in the flooded chamber hammering on the wall.

Carlos saw Alyssa as well, "She's going to drown behind that wall!"

Jill rushed forward, "If we don't stop Nemesis that blast will kill us all, at that range that weapon will do more harm then good" She was suddenly standing a few inches from Nemesis and grabbing a hold of the rocket launcher forced it downwards.

When Nemesis turned to face Jill, she saw the green eyes were filled with concern not anger. The giant let out a rumbling growl but made no attempt to raise the weapon again.

"Listen to me, you can't blow open that glass wall it will cause a lot of damage" Jill said slowly. "I know you want to free Alyssa but firing at a smooth surface isn't a good idea"

Nemesis then reattached the rocket launcher and stepped back from the wall, stopping he roared back at the barrier.

Alyssa nodded and moved backwards from the glass.

Nemesis then unleased several hard kicks towards the glass; each creating large cracks across the surface.

Soon the glass shattered and with it came the torrent of water.

Caught off guard by the rush of water, Nemesis was pinned momentarily against the wall as the water flowed out.

Snorting and shaking the water off him, Nemesis moved in time to catch Alyssa as she was washed out of the room with the water.

As Nemesis lowered Alyssa to the ground, she turned and screwed up her face, "You smell like smoke"

Nemesis only grunted at the remark, partly glad that Alyssa had been freed from her watery prison.

When the water had come flowing out the room Nemesis wasn't the only one who had been caught off guard, Jill and Carlos had been swept down the hallway and had to sprint back up the corridor.

Seeing Alyssa smiling and acting like nothing had happened slightly troubled Jill, _Who knows how long she'd been trapped behind that wall? It may have been longer then what a normal human being can stand and if Alyssa can hold her breath for that long…_her thoughts trailed off, in a way Jill was happy that both Alyssa and Nemesis were alive, they had adverted disaster once again.

The water had started to rise faster and already it was up to Alyssa's waist.

Jill waded up to the pair, "You ok?" she asked Alyssa.

Alyssa only nodded, "I'm ok just a little waterlogged"

The rising water had made Nemesis even more nervous then before and he began to walk away from the group towards the exit.

Alyssa, Jill and Carlos followed behind Nemesis as they all exited after a few more turns they all saw a large metal door slightly ajar, claw marks across where the handle was.

As Nemesis pushed the door open cautiously his eyes darted past the group as he growled threateningly.

For a brief moment Jill thought that Nemesis would attack them but the monster was growling at something else behind them. As she turned Jill recognized a familiar and terrifying form.

Carlos had also heard the cry and groaned, "Not again I thought that thing was fish food"

The white whale creature had somehow freed itself from the room it was in, the creature let out a high pitch squeal as it flopped towards the group.

Alyssa saw the creature's advance and was about to step forward when Nemesis stopped her, blocking her way with his large right arm.

With his other arm Nemesis pushed Jill and Carlos behind him then unhooking the rocket launcher aimed at the white monstrosity and fired.

The missile sped towards the creature trailing smoke from it as the rocket collided with the monster it exploded outwards painting the large area crimson. The large headless bulk of the monster slid silently into the water trailing blood after it.

Satisfied the threat was over Nemesis turned back to the group and opened the door.

When all were inside Jill caught a glimpse of something green and brown climbing up a ladder. _Looks like Deception found us a way out_ she thought watching as the Hunter climbed up the iron ladder. Even though Jill knew that Deception had only located the ladder to save his own scaly skin it appeared that he had only started to ascend it when the group entered the room.

Carlos had also seen the ladder and called out to the others to follow.

As Alyssa began to climb up the ladder she glimpsed a body laying on a platform covered in blood, she then shook her head and continued to climb; whatever had happened to the man would remain a mystery.

Nemesis waited until the others were safely up the ladder before he started to climb, ignoring the creak it made when he went up a rung.

By now the water was already up the ladder which made Nemesis climb even faster trying not to think what would happen if he let go and fell into its swirling depths.

Exiting the ladder and climbing out of an escape hatch the cold night air hit Nemesis causing his breath to come out as steam.

Deception stood near the van waiting patiently for the group, he too was breathing out steam.

Alyssa turned towards Jill, her tired eyes staring back, "Can we go now? It's really late"

Jill nodded, "I think that's a good enough excuse for me"

Once both Nemesis and Deception were in the back Jill turned towards Alyssa, "Let me see that wound on your arm"

Alyssa slowly slid her bloodstained sleeve up only to reveal a thin red line, "It's nothing"

Jill stepped back and sighed, "I should have known that"

The radio in the van spluttered to life with a local announcer reporting on a strange disturbance in electrical power in the Townsville area but Jill didn't hear the report, her thoughts drifted back to the murderous eyes and wavering roar Nemesis had when he charged towards her. _He would've killed Carlos and me and this time Alyssa wasn't there to stop him, if we hadn't knocked out Nemesis when we did…_Jill then felt something warm press up against her.

Glancing down she realized it was Alyssa who had curled up beside Jill like a cat and fallen into a deep sleep.

Seeing this Jill smiled and turned towards Carlos who only smiled faintly back before turning the wheel on the van.

_We're all in this together and nothing not even a maniac like Alice or Griffin to stop that_ Jill thought as she stared out across the starry sky.

Walking down the white corridor of the facility Griffin attempted to phone Joseph but received no reply, he was faintly aware that something had gone wrong at the Townsville labs but couldn't be bothered to investigate, there were other events that needed attention.

Retrieving a small silver remote from his pocket Griffin first pressed a few of the buttons before swiping a key card through the reader on the door.

The door opened with a slight whooshing noise as Griffin stepped inside.

Most of the room was dominated with various pieces of equipment designed to be for life support but it was in the centre of the room that Griffin had focused on.

Suspended by several thick wires floated Alice, she was wearing a silver bikini type outfit and a cup like devise that pumped out an oxygen supply was over her face.

The containment unit that Alice had been placed in after the fight with Alyssa had given her normal regenerating abilities a helping hand, it had taken under a week for the burns and abrasions to completely disappear.

Griffin had also taken the time to configure a version two of Project Alice into the already existing programming, it would amp up the already lethal abilities Alice possessed and also make resisting orders a thing of the past.

Approaching the tank Griffin stared back at the sleeping Alice, he knew for a fact that she'd had plenty of time to plot revenge against her enemies so precautions had to be taken in order to prevent any unnecessary accidents.

Fortunately for Griffin he had been able to convince the committee to allow only his team to work on the restoration process. There had been some fears that Alice would be transported away to another facility and Griffin would lose his best test subject and bodyguard but nothing like that had happened.

An older looking man in his mid forties approached Griffin and handed him a clipboard, "All the tests have been completed sir"

Taking the clipboard Griffin quickly scanned the stats, "And the vitals on the subject?"

"All are in perfect condition, it's almost like the energy needed to repair the injuries came from nowhere, the specimen hasn't been responding to the nutrients but has still made a full recovery"

Hearing this Griffin placed the clipboard on the panel and smiled, _Stubborn even when sedated_. He then turned towards the lab tech, "Start the purging process and make sure that all the cameras are running"

The man whose name Griffin couldn't remember nodded across towards a younger lab tech with short blond hair.

The younger lab tech typed for a few minutes on the computer and the tank's water slowly started to drain.

Griffin didn't wait for the process to begin he raised the remote to his mouth and spoke into it, "Project Alice activate"

The water hadn't even reached the quarter mark when Alice's eyes flew open, she glared back at the young lab tech sitting at the console and clawed at the breathing apparatus on her face.

Griffin had already stepped back when he saw Alice awaken, he wanted no part in anything she may do.

Reaching around Alice began to rip the cords from her back not uttering a single cry of pain when doing this.

The glass suddenly shattered and the remaining water that carried the scent of disinfectant flowed out across the floor.

First Alice crouched like a lion ready to attack on top of the broken platform, the young man made the mistake of crying out in surprise when seeing the glass break and Alice snapped her head towards him, her icy blue eyes glaring back in seething rage.

Then Alice had the young man up against the wall by the throat in an iron grip, the choking sounds of her victim making her grin evilly.

Seeing the sudden behaviour of Alice and the fact that Griffin didn't want to go looking for replacements for his research team he pressed a button on the silver remote.

A high pitch ringing filled Alice's head as she screamed in pain and dropped to the floor releasing her hold on her gasping victim who slumped limply against the wall.

The lab tech wasn't that lucky, a later examination of the body would show that his heart had exploded like an over inflated balloon.

Walking past the shocked elderly lab tech Griffin approached Alice who now stared up at him from the ground her blue eyes registering anger and confusion as to where the noise had come from.

"Well it's good to see that your hearing wasn't damaged during your last spar" Griffin remarked. "Do you remember who did this to you? Or why you're here?"

Slowly Alice rose, the water dripping off her slender body, "Alyssa Winterstone did this to me"

Just as Griffin had expected Alice had remembered the Winterstone girl, he had only hoped that the new programming put into practice would prevent Alice from killing the girl. "Actually it was those renegades that hurt you, they forced Alyssa to attack and although I am a bit disappointed in you for not reporting back to me we all make mistakes"

Hearing this confused Alice, the last thing she remembered were flames surrounding Alyssa, but she'd also heard Jill's voice, it was low toned and threatening and seemed more acceptable after all Alyssa was only a weakling, a sick and feeble one at that.

Griffin guided Alice out towards the door only pausing to drape a lab coat over her shoulders, "You have to look a little bit presentable before I show you something I think you'll like"

Walking down the white hallway Griffin card swiped another door and went inside followed by Alice.

Inside the room was a large steel table and strapped to it was what appeared to be a very tall man, a white blanket covered the giant's body while wires snaked out from the arms and legs that connected to various other machines.

At first Alice couldn't say anything, her throat still hurt from where the large tube had been but after clearing it she could speak, "What is it?"

Griffin smiled cruelly, "Another masterpiece that I will soon give life to, it will help us bring Alyssa back, you'd like to see her again wouldn't you?"

Alice only nodded and pursed her lips together, there was something not right about the sleeping giant on the steel table, its thoughts only came back as blank when she reached out and touched its mind. But Alice kept these thoughts to herself, no use in voicing them out loud to a man who could easily take away her free will with a mere click of his fingers.

Griffin had seen Alice's reaction and still kept his grin, "Once activated nothing will stop it, I just thought I'd show you before it wakes seeming as you'll be working very closely with it"

Again Alice had to resist the urge to display any emotion, she didn't want to become a vegetable floating in a tank after all it was Griffin who had healed her and she was grateful for that. She only nodded and turned towards Griffin, all traces of fear and hesitation gone as the newer Alice took over, "How long until we go after them?"

"Patience Alice, I've only just located where those criminals are hiding it wasn't that hard to do though they're very sloppy at covering their tracks" Griffin replied as he walked over towards one of the machines.

Picking something that was leaning against the machine Griffin then strode back towards Alice and handed the shadowy item to her.

Taking the long thin items Alice realized they were her samurai swords, slowly unsheathing one she examined the blade, "Will this thing…" she pointed towards the creature "Be enough to stop the Nemesis and Hunter?"

"You underestimate me Alice" Griffin said as he began to walk out of the room. "Wait until it wakes up then we shall both see"

Taking one last look at the creature Alice then joined Griffin as they walked out of the darkened room, already she had lost too many days stuck in a tank. If she was to face off against Alyssa then preparations had to be made.

Alice could faintly feel something else in the back of her head, warning her not to hurt innocents that had once been her friends, but the voice was easily ignored.

The good natured Alice was long dead, only the darker colder side remained and she knew that the next time her and Alyssa met it would be the Winterstone girl cowering and in pain.

_Enjoy your victory Alyssa_, Alice thought as she walked beside Griffin _for soon you shall be back with me and the real challenges can begin_.

The fight continues….

42


End file.
